Blade Labs builds trust through seamless certification with Vanta

The company

Delivering secure and global Web 3 solutions for enterprise

Blade Labs is a leading multi-jurisdictional, regulated FinTech provider on a mission to enable billions of users to easily, compliantly, and securely transition between Web2 and Web3 activities through their seamless onboarding, simple integrations, and secure payment options. 

Through its Digital Assets Platform, Blade Labs addresses key points of friction in traditional financial processes, transforming how companies transact, innovate, and interact with their customers. 

Established in 2022, Blade Labs has delivered tailored Web3 solutions and digital wallet infrastructure to over 30 enterprise clients, including major brands such as LG Electronics,  Karate Combat, and Real World Asset issuers such as Diamond Standard. Responsible for creating over two million accounts to date, Blade Labs continues to be the partner of choice for enterprises seeking scalable and secure solutions to engage safely and seamlessly with tokenized assets.

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The challenge

Building a foundation of trust and compliance

While Blade Labs had every confidence in the ability of their solutions to transform operations for enterprise-level clients, engaging with these organisations in the first place required them to establish trust. As a business operating globally, they also had to meet varied and complex regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions, including the UK, US, Singapore and Qatar. 

Within a year of its founding, the company recognised that obtaining SOC 2 and ISO 27001 compliance was table stakes in order to engage with enterprise clients, ensure business legitimacy, and demonstrate industry best practices. 

As a newly established startup, the need to act quickly was not lost on the company. “Certification can take a long time – and a year in the life of a startup is a big deal,” says Blade Labs founder, Sami Mian. “We realised that if we could build our company on these certifications and the processes they rely on – essentially establishing this as our foundation and continuing to build on it – we’d have a unique advantage within the Web3 space.”

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The solution

Accelerating the journey to SOC 2 and ISO 27001

Faced with a choice among automated compliance solutions, Blade Labs saw Vanta’s focus on a smooth and efficient process as a significant advantage. “Vanta had a better understanding of the value in getting these certifications as quickly and seamlessly as possible”, explains Sami.

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Through its partnership with Vanta, Blade Labs has completed SOC2 Type 1 and ISO 27001 Stage 1 audits and is actively engaged in progressing towards Type 2 for both frameworks while pursuing GDPR compliance.

Although these certifications are known for their intricate requirements and numerous components, Vanta made the journey smooth and efficient. 

Responsible for business operations at Blade Labs, Ellidh says the company was able to successfully prepare for audit within about three months by using Vanta’s trust management platform for compliance automation. The audit process itself, Ellidh explains, “[was] completed expeditiously, taking around one week for SOC 2 and a few additional days for ISO 27001.”

“Having access to an all-in-one solution that streamlines the management of the entire SOC 2 and ISO 27001 process has been invaluable. This has alleviated concerns regarding potential missed deadlines or critical requirements.” - Eilidh Little, Business Operations at Blade Labs

The Blade Labs team found Vanta to be “very easy to use and very self-explanatory.” As Sami says, “the documentation itself probably saved us around two months' worth of legal fees.” He also points out that unlike other vendors, “Vanta has many more integrations, with automated testing to ensure all the necessary controls are in place, which was very beneficial for us”.

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The impact

An enterprise-grade provider with a competitive edge

“The onboarding process with Vanta was seamless. The intuitive user interface significantly eased the audit process, enhancing comprehension for our entire team.” ‍- Eilidh Little, Business Operations at Blade Labs

Thanks to the streamlined and accelerated journey to certification with Vanta, Blade Labs can now present itself as a credible and trustworthy partner to enterprise clients and regulators.

Sami explains, “We can now call ourselves a true enterprise-grade provider and more confidently approach business opportunities as one of the very few companies in our ecosystem with these certifications.”

Vanta’s Trust Centre is also proving a valuable resource that makes secure interactions a breeze. “We’re utilising it a lot,” says Sami. “The fact that you can embed documents like the NDA and easily allow a client to view and sign is an excellent feature.”

Crucially, Vanta continuous control monitoring allows Blade Labs to uphold their commitment to security and compliance, which, as Eilidh points out, is “a paramount pillar within our organisation, underpinning every facet of our operations.” 

With Vanta’s help, Blade Labs can continue its goal of “upholding a gold standard in data protection and risk mitigation.”