tiun, a Zurich-based fintech helping media providers to attract, engage and convert younger audiences, is today announcing a €2.5 million pre-seed funding round to develop its streamlined approach to paying for media.
Swiss VC firm Founderful led the round, which also included Blue Wire Capital and a16z scout Maximilian Lehmann, among other angel investors.
The funds will kick-start their aim to become Europe’s preferred way to pay for online media, especially among younger audiences.
tiun Co-founder Nikolaos Christoforakos explains, “There’s a clear disconnect between the modern way we expect to consume media and how media is bought and paid for today. The subscription model was invented to bring convenience to consumers, preventing them from having to pay for every item they wanted to consume. This worked too for the media providers, who got consumer loyalty in return – so the model grew exponentially. That same experience can in today’s world often be a hindrance for a young user to convert and become a loyal customer. tiun intends to build that bridge by working closely with media businesses, in a way which will significantly benefit both consumers and media businesses.”
tiun was founded in early 2023 by the co-founder trio Nikolaos Christoforakos, Christian Heiduschke and Sandro Zweig.
Born out of a shared frustration at being hit with paywalls, the team agreed there must be an alternative, more user-friendly way of charging for media, which doesn’t require the repetitive surrendering of personal data.
In particular, the tiun team is focused on onboarding new business partnerships and integrations with third-party payment methods i.e. digital wallets. These will simultaneously provide media platforms with exposure to reportedly untapped audiences while also allowing a new generation of users to access and pay for media by ‘tiuning in’, offering more convenience and flexibility while being more secure.
According to tiun, the tedious process of registering and subscribing is not considered convenient anymore for young users. tiun in return seeks to offer media companies easy-to-integrate solutions that allow a new means of authentication and payment to provide user experiences that drive millions of users, and potentially increase customer spending and engagement.
The tiun team sees vast potential in the solution in all kinds of media beyond written news, including streaming, and gaming. The company has reportedly already onboarded 50+ media titles across Central Europe.
The tiun infrastructure can track activity and end the session if there is no movement after a given time, preventing users from overspending. To incentivize uptake, tiun limits the amount media providers can charge users to a maximum of 20% of what a monthly subscription would cost. Once those limits are reached, the remainder of the month is free. The data and insights gathered by the platform can be used to inform media strategies to ensure media is as engaging as possible.
tiun enters the market at a turbulent time for the news media industry. A lack of revenue is causing significant layoffs throughout the industry. Estimates by the Press Gazette suggest that 2,500 media jobs have been cut in the US and UK this year alone.
Pascal Mathis, Partner at Founderful, says, “The internet has become the dominant way by which people consume media. Be it television, printed media, the radio, or physical CDs, one by one the internet has triumphed by facilitating a smoother, simplified user experience. The one area online media has failed to address, however, is effective monetization, deterring users with inconvenient and fragmented methods. Tiun removes these hurdles, creating seamless connections between consumers and providers. We’re thrilled to support the team in solving this challenge at such an early stage.”
Bertie Highmore, Head of Investments at Blue Wire Capital says, “The tiun team have extensive experience in – and demonstrated ability for – building, launching and scaling digital platforms. Strong appetite has already been shown for their product, which solves one of the biggest emerging issues in online media. We’re excited to be on board, and are looking forward to what will be a huge next twelve months for them.”
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2024/12/swiss-startup-looks-to-help-media-tiun-in-to-younger-audiences-with-new-funding/
