History
The foundations for Certo were laid early on in 2012 when four entrepreneurs decided that they needed to do something with the ideas they had for a secure payment environment to be used for all kinds of commercial transactions. Over a period of several months, the four men involved had been taking an in-depth look at non-simultaneous transactions, when payment and delivery are not concurrent. They discovered that there are countless examples of consumers being defrauded and never receiving goods they had already paid for. They also discovered that many vendors take substantial risks in allowing consumers to pay for goods only once they have been delivered. With this type of transaction, it would seem that a risk is always involved for either one or the other of the two parties. The backdrop to this is a world in which the vendor-buyer relationship is becoming ever more distant. Buying and selling completely on the basis of trust is becoming increasingly difficult.
Certo started development of its online platform during 2012. As security is of paramount importance to Certo, experts were brought in to audit the whole process. Development took several months to complete and at the beginning of 2013, Certo launched its first payment solution. Vendors and buyers could now enter into a transaction without taking any risks. It soon became clear that parties in several different sectors had been following these developments with great interest.
Following on from its successful launch, Certo went in search of more. This quickly led to intensive contacts with parties in the travel industry. This sector was struggling with what was basically the same problem, though the cause was different. A number of tour operators turned to Certo in order to be able to comply with Dutch law relating to guaranteed repatriation. They were looking for a method that would mean travellers would no longer have to pay the tour operator in advance. Following a number of discussions, the parties involved concluded that a relationship with Certo could be fruitful and during 2013 the STO-reisgarantie (STO Holiday Guarantee) was set up. It soon became clear that there was a large demand for the STO Holiday Guarantee, supported by Certo's payment solution. Within a few months, many tour operators had signed up. The launch had been a success.
In the beginning of 2014, Certo also entered into discussions with a number of platforms that specialise in bringing together supply and demand. Payment security also plays an important role here as, in most cases, vendors and buyers do not know each other. Certo's payment solution is used in order to create a secure environment for these platforms, completely eliminating the risk for either party when transactions take place. For Certo, this development meant that 2014 was all about growth.
In 2015 Certo continued to further optimize its payment solution. The platform can then also be used to address other payment problems in the travel industry. This is mainly accomplished by adding a 'split payment' opportunity, enabling the platform to divide an incoming payment over multiple beneficiaries. With the launch of this feature Certo is further expanding its customer base.