Cork payments company Trustap raises €5.1m in funding

Cork-based payments company Trustap has raised $5.5 million in funding to help drive product growth as the company expands overseas.

The Series A round of funding was led by TX Ventures, with co-investment by a number of new investors including SeedX, Partners Resolute and Aperture. Existing investors MiddleGame Ventures, Act and Atlantic Bridge also participated in this round, alongside FurthrVC.

The Cork-headquartered company provides an end-to-end digital transaction platform to give buyers and sellers peace of mind for transactions, both online and face to face.

The new funding will allow the company, which aims to tackle the lack of trust between buyers and sellers in peer-to-peer transactions, to expand its product offering.

“We’re delighted to have closed this round and it’s great to have added new investors to our cap table who bring with them a wealth of experience in our core markets,” said Trustap chief executive Conor Lyden.

“Our plan is to invest in our go-to-market to ensure we make the most of some of the recent partnerships we have established. We’ll also look at adding further product features to cater for the wide range of use cases we deal with across both C2C and B2B marketplaces.”

Among its key features is an escrow-style payment. Buyers can track the transaction across each step of the journey with funds held securely and not released until the milestones are complete, with sellers getting transparency over where funds are being sent, verification of the buyer’s identity and options to collect and ship items.

“Our view is that within the near-mid term, marketplaces will have to offer trusted payment solutions otherwise they will miss out on new business. Trustap, by providing escrow-like payment options and by lifting the operational burden off the shoulders of marketplaces, offer just that,” said Krzysztof Bialkowski, managing partner of TX Ventures. “The product is immensely scalable which is proven by the global presence of clients and the numerous categories Trustap facilitates among buyers and sellers.”

Trustap has already signed up customers such as Mudah in Malaysia, Preloved in the UK and Student Seats in the US, with partnerships across 27 countries. The company has recently closed a multi-market deal with a clothing marketplace, bringing an additional five European countries into its business.

“We have ambitious plans to become the market leader in trusted transactions worldwide, ensuring all users on Trustap-powered marketplaces can transact safely & efficiently. Our initial focus is on continuing to partner with the marketplaces that have the biggest market share in our supported geographies whilst aiming to cater for the longer tail of the market in the medium term” Mr Lyden said.