Belgium’s Tinrate secures €1.6 million to monetise expertise, dubbed “OnlyFans for knowledge” by its founder

Exactly one month, after its founding, Kortrijk-based Tinrate – a platform that enables users to seek and share advice and expertise – has raised a €1.6 million Seed round to roll out the company.

The round saw participation from Steve Rousseau (World of Talents), Helena Brutsaert (Get Driven) and Arne Vandendriessche (Signpost). Other notable names include Frederik Poelman, Louis Balcaen, Filip Smet (Amotek), Thibault De Keyzer (Mobile expense), Frederik Verhelst, Matthias Vandepitte (Strada Partners) and Piet Van Waes (Tilleghem). Belfius is also backing the project.

“Today, it is normal to receive an invoice from a solicitor after a call. In my view, it is just as normal to pay someone who knows everything about wine, or travel, or fashion, or music, or entrepreneurship in a particular niche. It will be important to change the way we think about obtaining and providing advice and expertise. You could compare it a bit to OnlyFans for knowledge and advice,” says founder Gunther Ghysels. (Translated)

In the 2025 European funding landscape, Tinrate’s Seed round sits within a relatively small stream of capital flowing into platforms focused on expertise, professional services and AI-enabled matching.

A closely adjacent example is Ethos, which secured €3 million to scale its AI-driven expert matching network, aiming to connect organisations with relevant specialists more efficiently.

Beyond direct expert marketplaces, investor interest has also extended into enabling technologies and platforms supporting knowledge work and services. This includes nexos.ai, which raised €30 million to help enterprises manage and govern AI usage, and Parloa, which closed a €310 million Series D to expand its AI-based customer service agent platform.

“It’s my first Seed round ever, and I believe that in 2026 it will be virtually impossible to roll out a new innovative platform without sufficient resources. Speed will be important. I am extremely grateful that many big names believe in me, but it certainly brings extra pressure,” says investor Viktor Verhulst. (Translated)

Almost ten years after founding the driver platform Get Driven, Gunther has launched Tinrate to become the online solution for easily gaining or selling expertise.

Users can register on the platform for free and add their profile to existing platforms such as their website, email, LinkedIn, TikTok or Instagram. The platform secures and automates bookings, payments, invoicing and feedback. In time, Tinrate says it will have a search functionality for specific sectors, profiles or segments.

Gunther wants to include knowledge professions such as solicitors and tax specialists on the platform, as well as all other types of professions that have expertise in certain niches and can be shared via video call.

The platform already has more than 1,000 professionals registered.

According to Gunther, the company is also complementary to the exponential growth of programmes such as ChatGPT: “People are already looking for advice in all kinds of niches, and their curiosity is greatly influenced by platforms such as Instagram and Tiktok. The vision and expertise of someone  who has experienced it in practice will always be more valuable than the answer you can find online. You can find the theory on ChatGPT, but in the long run, you will have to find the practice on Tinrate.”

The post Belgium’s Tinrate secures €1.6 million to monetise expertise, dubbed “OnlyFans for knowledge” by its founder appeared first on EU-Startups.