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§ Private Profile · Copenhagen, Denmark
Trustpilot is a company.
Trustpilot has raised $172.0M across 5 funding rounds.
Key people at Trustpilot.
Trustpilot has raised $172.0M in total across 5 funding rounds.
Trustpilot operates a global online review platform, serving as an open, independent, and impartial bridge between consumers and businesses. The company's core product facilitates the collection and display of genuine customer feedback, enabling consumers to make informed purchasing decisions while providing businesses with valuable insights to enhance their services and foster brand trust. Its platform is designed to increase transparency in the marketplace through authenticated experiences.
The company was founded in 2007 by Peter Mühlmann, who envisioned creating a universal symbol of trust in the digital economy. Mühlmann's insight stemmed from the growing need for a reliable, third-party mechanism where consumer experiences could be openly shared, addressing the inherent information asymmetry between buyers and sellers online. This foundational principle guided the development of its widely used review ecosystem.
Today, Trustpilot caters to a dual audience: consumers seeking authentic perspectives before purchases and businesses aiming to cultivate stronger reputations and improve customer satisfaction. The company's long-term vision is to establish itself as the definitive mark of trust worldwide, empowering consumers with confidence and providing businesses with a credible channel to demonstrate their commitment to quality and service improvement.
Key people at Trustpilot.
Trustpilot has raised $172.0M across 5 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $55.0M Series E in March 2019.
Trustpilot has raised $172.0M in total across 5 funding rounds.
Trustpilot's investors include Mohammed Anjarwala, 2150, Accel, Accomplice VC, Acequia Capital, Ambridge Capital, Tom Hulme, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northzone, RRE Ventures, Stride VC, White Star Capital.
# High-Level Overview
Trustpilot is a Danish consumer review platform that operates a dual-sided SaaS marketplace connecting businesses and consumers through authentic feedback.[3] Founded in 2007, the company hosts 330 million reviews from 60 million monthly active users as of June 2025, making it one of the world's largest online review communities.[3] The platform's core mission is to build trust between businesses and consumers by making authentic customer feedback visible and actionable.[5]
Trustpilot serves two distinct user groups: consumers who seek honest, comprehensive insights before making purchasing decisions, and businesses ranging from small enterprises to large corporations who use the platform to showcase their reputation, respond to feedback, and gain strategic insights for improvement.[6] The company operates on a freemium SaaS model, offering free basic services to both consumers and businesses, with paid premium plans providing enhanced functionality and deeper analytics for businesses.[6] This dual-revenue approach—combined with its position as a critical trust infrastructure layer in e-commerce—has driven significant growth, culminating in the company's 2021 listing on the London Stock Exchange as a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.[3]
# Origin Story
Peter Holten Mühlmann founded Trustpilot in 2007 while studying at Aarhus University, inspired by a personal frustration: his mother lacked sufficient information to confidently purchase products online.[2][4] Mühlmann recognized a broader market need—he was simultaneously running a small e-commerce business and struggled to establish credibility with customers who viewed his website with skepticism.[4] The timing proved fortuitous: Trustpilot launched the same year Apple introduced the iPhone, coinciding with the explosive growth of e-commerce and mobile commerce.[4]
The company's early trajectory reflected deliberate capital strategy. After securing $3 million in early venture funding between 2008 and 2010, Trustpilot received backing from SEED Capital Denmark and Northzone in November 2011, followed by a $13 million Series B round in 2012 that fueled international expansion.[3] By 2013, the company had opened offices in New York and London, and was named Danish Startup of the Year at Next Web's European Startup Awards.[3] A $25 million Series C investment from Draper Esprit in 2014 further accelerated growth.[3] Mühlmann stepped down as CEO in March 2023, transitioning to a non-executive board role, with Adrian Blair assuming the CEO position in July 2023.[3]
# Core Differentiators
# Role in the Broader Tech Landscape
Trustpilot operates at the intersection of three powerful macro trends: the explosive growth of e-commerce, the declining trust in online institutions, and the rise of user-generated content as a primary decision-making tool. As internet penetration grew from 20% globally in 2007 to 60% by the time of Mühlmann's 2021 investor commentary, consumer reliance on peer reviews became foundational to online commerce.[4] The platform essentially became critical infrastructure—a trust layer that reduces friction in transactions between unknown parties.
The company's 2021 London Stock Exchange listing reflected investor recognition that review platforms represent a durable, defensible business model. Unlike transactional marketplaces that compete on price and selection, Trustpilot's value derives from accumulated review data and network effects: more reviews attract more users, which attracts more businesses, which generates more reviews. This creates a moat that becomes harder to disrupt as scale increases.
Trustpilot's influence extends beyond its direct platform. By maintaining independence and refusing to become a marketing tool for paying businesses, the company has shaped industry norms around review authenticity—pressuring competitors and regulators to take content integrity seriously. The platform's global reach and industry-agnostic approach position it as a potential standard for trust signaling across e-commerce, SaaS, and service industries.
# Quick Take & Future Outlook
Trustpilot faces a critical inflection point. The company has achieved scale (330 million reviews, 60 million monthly users) and public market validation, but must now demonstrate that its freemium SaaS model can drive sustainable profitability while maintaining the trust and independence that define its brand. The transition from founder-led to professional management under Adrian Blair signals a maturation phase focused on operational efficiency and monetization optimization.
The company's stated vision—to become "the universal symbol of trust" by making Trustpilot "visible at every consumer touchpoint across the globe"—suggests ambitions to embed its ratings and reviews into third-party platforms, similar to how Stripe embeds payments infrastructure.[5] Success here would transform Trustpilot from a destination platform into an invisible utility layer, dramatically expanding its addressable market.
However, Trustpilot must navigate persistent challenges: ongoing criticism regarding fake reviews and review removal practices threatens the trust foundation upon which the entire business rests. As regulatory scrutiny of online platforms intensifies globally, maintaining independence while satisfying regulators and businesses will require sophisticated governance. The company's ability to balance these competing pressures—remaining genuinely open while preventing abuse—will ultimately determine whether it achieves its vision of universal trust infrastructure or remains a valuable but niche player in the review ecosystem.
