Fortior Solutions, the Hillsboro, Ore.-based company known as SureID during better times, has filed for chapter 11 protection, The Oregonian reported. The filing Friday capped a difficult year for the company, once among Oregon's most highly touted tech businesses. SureID collapsed last spring after losing a contract to supply identity verification services to the U.S. Navy, a deal that was responsible for 70 percent of its $57 million in revenue. The bankruptcy filing says that Fortior owed $57.9 million under a loan agreement with Goldman Sachs dating to 2015. Without the Navy business, SureID had no way to cover the debt. SureID laid off 400 people last year, most of them in Hillsboro, before selling part of its business in October to Sterling Financial Solutions for $6.6 million. The bankruptcy filing identifies Goldman Sachs as owning a "significant" chunk of New York-based Sterling, a company that specializes in background screening of prospective employees. The remaining portion of SureID changed its name to Fortior, focused on verification contracts with other branches of the military. Fortior had approximately 105 employees left after the Sterling deal.
