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I was interviewed and selected by a startup in India which through my research I found was named x but is now named y. They are said to be funded by a company G. G's website says they are funding x. I searched this website.

And I cannot find x or y as being registered companies. I asked the interviewer and he says the company name was changed from x to y 4 months back, they had completed their second closure and have funds to run for 2 years and that the formalities of registration would be completed in a few months.

They had a mature interview process, the people seemed to be genuine and I am being offered a 50% hike in salary (which brings my salary to the market rate). The company has been around for just 9 months and they just shifted to a posh area where the company environ is just being setup. That was where the interview was held.

The only thing that seems fishy is that the company does not seem to be registered. Should I contact the funding company and ask about the authenticity of it? Would that get me into trouble with the company? Is there any other way to verify antecedents before asking them to send across the offer letter?

Update: From the question Lilienthal pointed me to, I was taken to http://www.register.com/whois.rcmx where I entered the company y website name and it showed me:

Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Registrant Name: company x's name
Registrant Organization: this part was left blank

There is also a blog that says this:

Only Limited Liability Partnership, Private limited companies and public limited companies status can be obtained using the MCA website. The status of entities registered as sole proprietorship or partnership firm cannot be obtained from the MCA website". Problem is I don't know what kind of company this is. They are into the healthcare big data analytics market, and are funded by a large company that had acquired a USA based data analytics company, and is a large stakeholder in this company y.

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    This is a legal question.
    – Nobody
    Nov 4, 2015 at 9:15
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    @scaaahu: I don't see what's legal about it, although Indian regulations of course come into play. This is a question about whether there are other avenues of checking out the company, and about whether it's advisable to contact the funding company. Answers will likely be specific to india, but there's nothing wrong about that. I'd say we should leave it open.
    – Stephan Kolassa
    Nov 4, 2015 at 9:22
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    Agreed with @StephanKolassa, this question is perfectly fine. It's very closely related to this one: "How do I verify that a company offering a job actually exists?" but the specific nature of a company registration number for India sets it apart enough that I don't consider it a duplicate.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Nov 4, 2015 at 9:25
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    @scaaahu: no, we aren't. But the OP asks neither of these questions. If he did, I'd VTC immediately.
    – Stephan Kolassa
    Nov 4, 2015 at 9:26
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    @scaaahu: the OP is not asking a legal question, he is asking how to verify that this is a legitimate company and not a scam that will cost him his current job at the very least, while at the same time not costing him his new job if it is legitimate. If the job is legitimate, he can reasonably expect that all of the legal details will be worked out
    – jmoreno
    Nov 4, 2015 at 16:09

2 Answers 2

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Perhaps the right answer to this is to simply ask the employer, and they should be able to give you a convincing answer. If they can't, then that is a serious red flag and you should consider other job opportunities.

In this case, I found out that company x was named company y previously, and before that, it was named z pvt. ltd. I found this by pasting their website address in register.com (if there is a slash "/" at the end of the website name you paste, you have to remove it).

I asked the interviewer before he sent the offer letter, and he responded by sending a screenshot of the page from the government website, which showed company z being registered and having a CIN number. The company has to be able to justify being a legally registered company in India because you would eventually have to file your income taxes.

India also has Company Wiki, where you can type a company's name and get details about it.

But like in my case, typing company name x in Company Wiki would not have yielded any results because it was company z pvt. ltd. that was officially registered, and they were d/b/a (doing business as) company x. So you have to first use register.com to figure out the original name of the company and then search for it on Company Wiki.

I'm sure other countries would have company information listed on their government websites.

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Call me paranoid, but seems like boloney and scammy to me. They don't have the time to register the company, but somehow expect me to believe they'll pay me, file taxes correctly, pay their half of social security, etc.

I'd be real suspicious if there was some kind of background check fee, or if I had to buy equipment before I could start.

Tread carefully.

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  • Thanks, but it seems genuine. I also called up one of their employees, whose number I got from LinkedIn. He confirmed the location and the name change of the company.
    – Julia
    Nov 10, 2015 at 8:14

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