The service Trustev is peddling allows users to confirm their identities by creating a digital ‘fingerprint’ using various types of social media accounts as proof that you are who you say you are.
The angle for enterprises and online retailers is that the possibility of credit card or identity fraud are reduced and information on customers is stored within Trustev to fill out order or shipping info, according to the company’s site.
The company was put together by Pat Phelan and Chris Kennedy and raised about $300,000 in funding, announced this past February. Phelan, who’s also founded TwitterFone, has seen action as director of products and innovation at
Trustev came up through Wayra, an accelerator program the company accessed through Telefonica, a Spanish telecom company operating in 25 countries in Europe and Latin America.
To take home the top prize at the Tech All Star Awards, Trustev had to beat out other promising startups that had been chosen as finalists by investor-judges. The two rivals that almost spoiled Trustev’s day of victory were SnapFashion – a shopping search engine that lets users find apparel from photographs – and EcoChain—a sustainability performance calculator for enterprises.
The judges for the competition included a group of venture investors and successful entrepreneurs. A list of them is available here.
