In the crowdfunding and investment industry, trust and transparency are not optional—they are essential. For Erable, a company committed to funding high-impact projects, specialist of startup financing through revenue-based financing model, verifying the legitimacy of the businesses it works with is a non-negotiable part of the investment process. That’s why the team turned to Semaphore, a solution designed to ease KYB (Know Your Business) procedures thanks to access to real-time data and documents.
The Challenge
When People Invest Through Companies
Erable finances a wide range of responsible investment opportunities through platforms like WE DO GOOD, Keenest, era°app, ...
First, they carefully select projects through a thorough due diligence process before proposing them for investment. In some cases, investments are not made by individuals directly, but rather through corporate structures such as holding companies, especially when structuring investment in a startup through a revenue-based financing model.
In short, they often work with newly established companies — whether as projects to be funded or as investors — that still need to provide proof of legal existence.
Each time this occurs, Erable must perform a full KYB check. That includes confirming the company’s legal existence, verifying its registration details, identifying its directors and legal representatives, and tracing its ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs). Additionally, they need to collect and validate official documents like trade registry and ultimate beneficial owners extracts.
Before using Semaphore, this process was complex, slow, and resource-intensive.
Manual Checks, Fragmented Data, Slow Onboarding
Erable’s team encountered several operational challenges when conducting KYB manually.
For example, as detailed in WE DO GOOD’s selection criteria, the project owners must be legal entities registered in the Eurozone, UK, or Switzerland and provide identity documents, criminal record checks, and financial statements before being presented to investors, but sourcing documents from official registries often meant navigating fragmented or hard-to-access databases, especially when dealing with companies registered abroad.
Identifying UBOs was particularly difficult in cases involving indirect or layered ownership structures. As a result, onboarding new investors or new projects could take days—sometimes longer.
This manual approach was incompatible with Erable’s mission to act quickly while upholding rigorous compliance and transparency standards.
How Semaphore Solved the Problem
Semaphore offered an immediate solution: a platform to access to official business registry in real-time. With a simple interface and powerful API, Semaphore enables Erable to retrieve structured, real-time information directly from national company registries.
Since integrating Semaphore into their onboarding workflow, Erable can:
- Search for any company by name or registration number
- Access a comprehensive company profile, including legal status, registration information, address, and management team
- Identify shareholders and UBOs
- Instantly retrieve official documents such as company statutes, registry extracts, and financials
The process is fast, auditable, and scalable—eliminating the need for manual checks.
Results: Faster Compliance, Lower Risk
Since adopting Semaphore, Erable has significantly reduced the time required to complete due diligence and KYB. The team now has direct access to reliable, up-to-date information, which strengthens internal risk controls and ensures full regulatory compliance. This efficiency also improves their credibility with co-investors and partners, reinforcing trust across their ecosystem.
Equally important, it allows Erable to stay true to its values: promoting a more transparent, ethical, and responsible financial system.
KYB as a Strategic Enabler
Erable’s use of Semaphore illustrates how KYB—often seen as a regulatory hurdle—can become a strategic advantage. Reliable company verification doesn’t just reduce risk; it enables growth, streamlines operations, and upholds the integrity of the entire investment process.
With tools like Semaphore, responsible finance is no longer the domain of large institutions alone. Agile, impact-focused organizations can now operate with the same level of rigor and assurance.