ScanTrust on a steady growth path

Scantrust is a connected products platform for companies that sell physical products in an increasingly connected world. Through its patented processes for using QR codes, the company offers brands solutions to help maintain brand integrity, increase traceability in the supply chain, and create a direct channel for communication with end customers.  Since the company’s founding in 2014, it has consistently developed and advanced a brand protection solution that is poised to be a game-changer in fighting counterfeits.

“We offer several options for brand protection and security using QR codes that intrinsic copy protection while also being scalable to integrate into existing product packaging processes. Using QR codes as an IoT gateway, we enable brand owners to mitigate risk in their supply chains and drive growth through direct end-customer engagement”, explains Scantrust’s CEO and co-founder Nathan J. Anderson. 

More than 40 active enterprise customers worldwide are currently using Scantrust’s QR solution, and this number will significantly change in the next few months, as revealed by Nathan. The majority of the customers are multinational global brands with operations in Asia, Europe, the US, and South America and Africa.

Scantrust has also had healthy revenues figures since its launch, consistently realizing 100 percent year-over-year revenue growth, and the first quarter of 2021 saw this trend continue with record quarterly results. Scantrust takes pride in retaining customers and has a good record of client retention. “Interestingly, we did not see a single client churn since the start of the pandemic. On the contrary, in the current environment, where supply chain disruptions have become the norm and counterfeit products have increased across the globe, we have seen our existing customers increase use on our platform and expand the application to more products to reach their customers in challenging times”, says Anderson. 

The pandemic as a catalyst for new trends
Around June 2020, several trends, driven by the outbreak of the pandemic, emerged; supply chain disruptions increased, and contactless communication through QR codes, already widely used in many regions such as Asia, experienced a renaissance across the globe as physical interaction became impossible or risky. As a result, digitalization became a matter of survival for companies and traditional barriers to digital transformation were removed, accelerating the deployment of digital initiatives. With its QR code technology and as a pioneer in contactless technologies and product digitalization, Scantrust was and continues to be well-positioned to address each of these trends. 

Digitizing products and connecting products using technologies such as QR codes, once a theoretical curiosity, has gone mainstream in the post-pandemic age. One such example is where Knorr in Vietnam has leveraged Scantrust QR codes and connected product platform to promote sustainable consumption by enabling sharing of product origin information with customers. The startup is also running a diverse array of projects, with a yoga mat company, Liforme, premium liquor purveyor Remy Martin, and Dupont all among the companies using Scantrust.

Ready to scale up
Scantrust employs more than 30 employees spread across the world, and the team is expanding aggressively to staff-up in the coming month and support its scale-up efforts. Scantrusts boasts two central locations; Lausanne is its global headquarters and R&D hub, while its largest office is in Shanghai, China. With a strong team, the company is now set to scale the company further. New product features are constantly being developed, led by co-founder Justin Picard and VP of Product, Tobias Kars, and poised to unveil a new, groundbreaking product authentication solution later this year Thanks to its robust solution, demand for its product offerings, and a growing and capable team, Scantrust continues working on its mission to connect brands to consumers, through brand protection and supply chain transparency, while continuing to expand internationally, especially within the European and Asian markets. 

(Ritah Ayebare Nyakato)