trooly
Savi Baveja
Nilesh Dalvi
Anish Das Sarma
Airbnb buying background-check startup founded by 3 Indian origin entrepreneurs
Trooly uses public and permissible digital footprints to understand and predict the trustworthiness of individuals and businessesPTI | Updated: June 18, 2017, 23:25 IST
Alternative accommodations company Airbnb is buying Trooly, a California-based background-check startup founded by three Indian-origin entrepreneurs in 2014 as it seeks to protect its users and hosts from undesirable and fraudulent people. ​
An Airbnb spokesperson confirmed the acquisition to the Fortune Magazine but didn't disclose the acquisition price. ​
"We look forward to welcoming the Trooly team to Airbnb in the coming weeks," an Airbnb spokesperson told the publication "We'll continue working together to better facilitate trust between strangers on, off and across the platform - supporting Airbnb's overall strategy to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere".
Trooly was co-founded by Savi Baveja, Anish Das Sarma and Nilesh Dalvi in 2014. Baveja, who was the company's CEO, had previously served as senior partner at the strategy consulting firm Bain & Company, and a member of the Bain Board of Directors.
Sarma, the company's Chief Technology Officer, has worked at Google Research and Yahoo Research while Trooly's Chief Science Officer Dalvi is an IIT alumnus and has worked at Facebook and Yahoo Research, according to founder profiles on the company.
Trooly uses public and permissible digital footprints to understand and predict the trustworthiness of individuals and businesses. It uses minimal and non-intrusive identity information as input and returns "trust" ratings which incorporate screening for undesirable past behaviours, according to the company website.
Airbnb has reportedly been a Trooly customer since 2015 and the company had raised a total $10 million in funding in 2016.
Tags : Startups, trooly, Airbnb, Savi Baveja, Nilesh Dalvi, Anish Das Sarma, budget hotels, Alternative Accommodations, acquisitions