Trust-Place, a French startup based in Marseilles, pioneering in digital certification and post-purchase customer experience, announces the closing of its first funding round of 4 million euros. This investment will accelerate the development and growth of the first platform guaranteeing product authenticity and ownership, while generating a unique post-purchase customer relationship and engagement.
Trust-Place’s story begins with Gaëlle Delore and Didier Mattalia, the two co-founders. For over 15 years, they have been working on the authentication and traceability of luxury items through Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), particularly using NFC technology. By deploying IoT platforms within major French and European luxury houses, they have also changed the paradigm of data collection and analysis throughout the upstream part of the distribution chain, thus creating new services for brands. Both have anticipated changes in consumer behavior, communication, and purchasing habits, particularly eco-responsibility, to create Trust-Place and make it the go-to tool for post-purchase data traceability.
For Trust-Place, purchase is not the end but the beginning of a lasting relationship.
In just 4 years, Trust-Place has quickly established itself as a key player in post-purchase traceability, gaining the trust of prestigious clients such as Chloé, Isabel Marant, and Giambattista Valli, followed by other major French and Italian luxury and ultra-luxury brands. Soon after, leaders from other sectors such as Ligne Roset, Monnaie de Paris, Plume, and Nomads Surfing also chose to adopt the Trust-Place solution.
Indeed, the common thread in all these industries is that the purchase is not an end in itself but the beginning of an extraordinary journey. The Trust-Place platform reinvents the post-purchase experience to create an unbreakable bond between brands and their increasingly demanding customers. At the heart of this innovation is a unique and innovative digital passport that links products with their owners. For brands, this technology offers a guarantee of environmental compliance, increased knowledge of all post-purchase data (customers, products, usage), and opens the door to an entirely new, enriched customer relationship. For customers, the Trust-Place digital passport provides total traceability of the product and can be transferred in a dematerialized and tamper-proof manner in the second-hand market. Trust-Place thus restores confidence in buyers while allowing the brand to pass on its passion, values, and exclusive personalized services to all its customers – including those it did not previously know.
"Trust-Place stands out through its unparalleled mastery of customer knowledge, particularly in the crucial post-purchase domain. This unique expertise allows us to understand and influence the customer journey far beyond the transaction," explains Gaëlle Delore, CEO of Trust-Place. "Unlike the pre-purchase phase, which focuses on attraction and conversion, the post-purchase phase is fertile ground where long-term loyalty and value are built. It is during these moments that the customer truly evaluates their experience, forms lasting opinions, and decides on future engagement with the brand. We have the expertise to capture and analyze every nuance of this critical phase. We decode usage behaviors, satisfaction levels, and even unexpressed emotions of customers after their purchase. This deep understanding enables us to help our clients anticipate needs and prevent disenchantment, transforming every interaction into an opportunity to strengthen the relationship."
Trust-Place: A funding round for a controlled growth
The funding round, led by RSI (Région Sud Investissement) in collaboration with Smalt Capital, Caap Creation (Capital innovation subsidiary of Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence), WinEquity, Netangels, and the New York-based Reflexive Capital fund, was completed with the participation of Business Angels (INSEAD BA, Femmes Business Angels, Sophia BA, Rise BA).
“Trust-Place is positioned in a future-proof sector that is becoming increasingly digital by linking products with their owners. Region Sud Investissement has been monitoring this market for a long time, benchmarking companies, and finally decided to invest in Trust-Place. In this fast-growing market, the company has a solid, experienced team around two strong and complementary founders, a robust technology that already appeals to many prestigious clients, and a solid barrier to entry, reassuring us of the company’s strong growth potential,” said Pierre Joubert, General Manager of Region Sud Investissement.
"The Trust Place team is very experienced and has been able to develop a platform that meets all future challenges in terms of regulations, data management, and post-purchase customer relations. WinEquity is delighted to have committed to Gaelle Delore and Didier Mattalia, an extremely complementary mixed team with decades of experience in traceability and anti-counterfeiting for brands," adds Cécile Bassot, co-founder of WinEquity.
"This funding will enable us to continue our mission and provide unique post-purchase experience solutions," continues Gaëlle Delore. "We are expanding and strengthening our technological capabilities to better meet the expectations of the markets we are targeting, reinforcing our commitment to security, innovation, and customer satisfaction."
The capital will also support Trust-Place’s ongoing efforts to improve its platform and increase its international presence.
"Trust-Place addresses a crucial need for brands and transforms the way they manage post-purchase data and customer engagement while complying with modern traceability regulations. We are excited to partner with Gaëlle and Didier as they build on successful collaborations with renowned brands, supporting their expansion into the U.S. market," adds Sunny Parikh, co-founder and Partner at Reflexive Capital.
Trust-Place is now ready to continue its rapid growth trajectory, driven by its ability to meet the changing needs of brands and consumers in increasingly demanding, digital-focused markets.
About Trust-Place
As a post-purchase traceability expert, Trust-Place partners with brands to authenticate their products, decode customer behaviors, trends, and satisfaction throughout the product's lifecycle. Through a SaaS platform for creating and managing secure digital passports, linking products to their owners, brands can now access to a universe of new data aimed at maximizing customer knowledge, understanding post-sale usage, and generating new revenue. Trust-Place thus builds lasting relationships and forges strong bonds between brands and all their customers, regardless of their acquisition channel, providing a concrete and innovative solution to today's increasingly pressing issues of trust, transparency, and loyalty.
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