Headquartered in Vancouver, Trulioo is the world’s leading provider of instant global identity verification. With the ability to verify five billion consumers and more than 250 million business entities in 195+ countries, the company serves customers in a wide range of industries including technology, banking, retail, payments and online marketplaces.
By integrating with Trulioo’s API, organizations around the world can connect to GlobalGateway, a marketplace of identity data and services, to instantly verify the identities of more than two-thirds of the world’s population. Not only does this assist these organizations in staying compliant with a variety of international anti-money laundering (AML) and customer due diligence (CDD) requirements, it enables those who were previously excluded to pursue a better life by participating in today’s modern digital economy.
Recently, Trulioo announced it had raised a total of $70 million CAD in funding, led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, Citi Ventures and Santander InnoVentures.
To help fuel their growth and fill in the gaps, they hired six UBC and SFU students in the last two year’s through Innovate BC’s Tech Co-op Grant Program.
We sat down with Rhett Shoemaker, VP of Technology at Trulioo, to learn how the Tech Co-op Grant students have impacted the company and what’s next for the growing company.
Q: Trulioo has used the Tech Co-op Grant Program six times. What makes this program so appealing to you and the company?
Rhett: I’ve been involved in this program for a large portion of my career and it offers a great opportunity to work with very smart people with a fresh perspective on things. I think it’s very beneficial to combine ideas from industry veterans with those from the next generation of technologists. Some of the smartest people I’ve ever met came through the co-op program and I hope to work with them again in the future. As a hiring manager, the first thing I would look for in a prospective employee is industry experience, which is exactly what the co-op program gives to the students. I’m happy that I have the opportunity to support the technology community by participating in the program and providing new students with the experience they need to be successful. Personally, I would recommend that every student participate in the program if they are able.
Q: How did the Tech Co-op Grant impact the company?
Rhett: The co-ops work alongside our software developers and QA engineers. They write real production code and get to work on the same tasks as the more experienced employees, so it’s a very meaningful position. From time to time we also have co-ops working on research projects, so their time is spent investigating new technologies and evaluating them for implementation. This often requires a senior engineer, but our co-ops are able to contribute by prototyping and helping with research.
Q: What has been Trulioo’s biggest challenge and biggest success to date?
Rhett: Funnily enough, our biggest challenge and biggest success are actually one and the same. Trulioo has been growing so fast that hiring is a real challenge we’re faced with right now. We’ve tripled our headcount in recent years, and while we’ve managed to hire some extremely talented people, we’re on the lookout for more. The co-op program helps us fill gaps, but my real hope is that former co-ops will consider us for upcoming positions when the time comes.
Q: What’s next for Trulioo? Are there any updates on the horizon?
Rhett: Our recent funding announcement was a very exciting milestone for us, and it’s set to lead us into our next growth phase. We’ll be scaling up operations in new markets to tackle today’s most pressing global problems associated with verifying identities, furthering financial inclusion and safeguarding trust and privacy. The world of compliance is only getting bigger and more complex, which means opportunities for us to solve problems. And as I mentioned, we’re also expecting to grow our headcount to hit the 200 mark, with hiring planned across our Vancouver, San Francisco and Dublin offices. Now is a great time to be part of the Trulioo team.
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