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Snap alums Trust secures $30M to help emerging brands grow its businesses

Trust
Image credits: Trust

Trust, a Los Angeles-based growth network platform for emerging brands, announced that it has secured $30M funding in the latest round. 

Out of the total, the company raised $25M in debt from Upper90 and $5M in equity from existing and new investors, including Sapphire Sport and Michael Vaughn (Venmo’s former COO). 

To date, the company has raised $14M in equity, backed by various investors like Lerer Hippeau, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Manta Ray, Sapphire Sport, Upfront Ventures, and Upper90.

The funding will enable Trust to scale the network as the talent pipeline from Snap continues.

“The new debt line from Upper90 will help fuel growth for an amazing group of emerging brands looking to access Trust’s growth network. Bringing on these new strategic investors is an opportunity we couldn’t pass on,” said Trust CEO James Borow.

In addition to the funding, the company has also announced today that Matt Trandall, who spent the last six years building Snap’s partnership organisation, is joining Trust as Senior Vice President of Partnerships and Community.

How did it all start?

In 2015, Trust’s founding team was tasked to build Snapchat’s ad platform, which eventually proved to be successful. As per the company’s claims, those systems now generate nearly 100% of the revenue for a $50B business. 

Then, the founders observed the advantages larger companies had when leveraging the various social media ad platforms to grow, and at the same time noticed how smaller, emerging brands were largely left to go at it alone. 

They saw how this resource gap compounded over time and became particularly consequential for smaller brands trying to level up.

As a result, they wanted to build a platform that allowed them to safely share and access impactful data, insights, content and extended payment terms. And that’s how the idea of Trust was born. 

Growth network

Founded in 2019 by a team of Snap alums, Trust is the growth network for emerging brands, helping businesses grow smarter and faster together.

Brands that join the Trust network get access to curated news, real-time performance data, community insights, and increased buying power to help them better invest in their growth – 100% free. 

The company is on a mission to help today’s emerging brands grow smarter and faster, together.

“Brands using the Trust network consistently tell us the aggregated and anonymised data and insights from across the network are a game-changer in the post-iOS 14 worlds, while extended payment terms are key to freeing up cash flow,” says the company.

Since launching in August 2021, brands across the Trust network have had access to the network’s collective spending trends from more than 650,000 anonymised transactions and have gained visibility into aggregated pricing data on more than $500M in digital marketing spending.

“Our core team left Snap fully believing emerging brands could build stronger businesses if they had the ability to band together and learn from one another. We’re excited about the future and today’s announcement is as much about these brands as it is about us,” says Borow.

“With a powerhouse team hailing from Snap, Trust is applying a unique understanding of consumer social to an enterprise fintech product – creating a social network for high-growth companies who know exactly why they’re there – to grow smarter and faster, together,” says Chloe Steinberg, partner at Sapphire Sport.

“A no-brainer for any DTC brand. Trust helps us spend smarter and extend our cash flow at the same time,” says Sashee Chandran, CEO of Tea Drops.

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