Tiun
Zurich-based startup Tiun has raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding for its digital wallet, which lets users pay only for the online media they consume and provides businesses with an alternative way to monetize their content.
The startup aims to streamline the online subscription process, which its cofounder and CCO Nikolaos Christoforakos says is "full of friction" — from registering and authorizing an account to committing to an upfront subscription.
"Our mission is to help media providers — and more broadly service providers — to attract, engage, and convert younger audiences," Christoforakos told Business Insider.
Instead of subscribing to multiple individual media providers, Tiun offers users a digital wallet they can use across multiple media partners to purchase preferred content on a "pay-for-what-you-use" basis.
The account is free to create, with users topping up funds using an established payment method. This eliminates the need to enter new payment details for every outlet and eases the friction in the consumer journey, Christoforakos said.
Tiun gets a slice of each transaction, splitting the rest with the media provider. Companies providing the content — from podcasts to streaming to online news — can also access Tiun's business suite with metrics on reader data and conversions.
"There's a value to the product outside of the infrastructure, and on top of that, we make money with a revenue share," Christoforakos told BI.
Media organizations have been exploring micropayment models for several years — but with limited success. Dutch online news platform Blendle, one of the main champions of micropayments, later ditched its model in favor of subscriptions. Christoforakos says that Tiun is not positioning itself as a micropayment service that's in competition with previous efforts.
But the startup is providing the infrastructure that addresses one of the oft-cited reasons for the micropayment model's slow adoption: the lack of a standard payment method across media outlets.
"Our vision is to redefine how the next generation will consume and pay for online content by establishing a new standard that improves interoperability between wallets and applications," Christoforakos said.
Tiun's funding round was led by Swiss VC firm Founderful, with additional funds coming from Blue Wire Capital and a16z scout Maximilian Lehmann, among other angel investors.
With the fresh funding, Tiun will develop some core product offerings in the coming year.
We got an exclusive look at the 9-slide pitch deck used to secure the fresh funding.
