Truleo is offering common stock at a $30 million pre-money valuation.

Investors should note that investing early through common stock puts them at a disadvantage. The company already sold $3.5 million of preferred stock. This means that if/when Truleo exits, preferred stockholders will get their money back before any common stockholders. In the case of an exit that values Truleo at a low price, preferred stockholders might get a small return and common stockholders may get nothing. 

That said, Truleo’s valuation is pretty fair for a software company that’s well-differentiated and has $1.6 million in revenue. If it can acquire a large customer base, it may be able to give investors a 10x return at exit.

Truleo’s market is pretty small. The global body-worn camera market was worth only $545.9 million in 2021, which implies that the American market is even smaller. The market should grow at a rate of 16.4%, which could give Truleo room to grow its revenues. 

But most importantly, what really determines Truleo’s market is the number of police stations that could use its product. There are more than 18,000 police departments in the U.S. Each could generate between $17,000 and $250,000 a year depending on its size — with an average of $75,000 per station — according to Truleo co-founder and CEO Anthony Tassone. If every station pays $75,000, Truleo’s addressable market could reach $1.4 billion.

Additionally, the Black Lives Matter movement — as well as corresponding media and public interest in improving police behavior — could inspire more police stations to adopt Truleo’s product.

Truleo’s co-founder and CEO, Anthony Tassone, grew up in a family of police officers. Since his childhood, he has understood the politics of the police sector and what it takes to be a changemaker in the field. Most importantly, Tassone is scrappy. He has already reached out to 500 police departments since he started his company and convinced 17 of them to sign up for Truleo’s service — including the New York Police Department, one of the largest and most influential police departments in the country.

Tassone also has previous entrepreneurial experience. He and Tejas Shastry — co-founder and chief technology officer of Truleo — co-founded GreenKey, an IT firm that reached up to $4 million in revenue. Tassone sold the business when he realized that the company didn’t have strong demand.

Shastry also has successful business experience as a serial entrepreneur. Before co-founding GreenKey with Tassone, Shastry started a business called AMPY, which was acquired in 2016.

More than 20 companies, including Motorola, sell body cameras for police officers in the United States. Truleo is differentiating itself from its competition by providing a software capable of scoring police officers based on their interactions with civilians. Police officers’ managers can see their scores and provide feedback, allowing them to improve their behavior if needed. Truleo’s product costs police departments $17,000 to $250,000 depending on the size of their workforce, with an average price of $75,000.

Truleo is going further than simply observing police officers’ interactions with civilians — it is a tool that provides accountability. This could benefit the police overall by improving their public image in society and restoring the public’s trust.

Truleo’s team has reached out to 500 departments since the launch of the company, and 17 have signed up for the product so far. This is a good start for a product trying to penetrate a governmental institution. And it brought Truleo an impressive $1.6 million in revenue in 2022. The company is executing fast, and its initial results will be important to increase the success rate of its sales outreach. 

The company burned $2 million last year, so it still relies heavily on investor money. The founders hope to raise a Series A round in early 2024. The success of this raise will be key for the company’s survival.

Truleo is attacking a difficult market. American police departments only adopted body cameras because they were forced to by law. Traditionally, the institution seems reluctant to provide accountability for problematic officer behavior. That’s why in order to grow, Truleo’s best chance is to convince heads of departments and politicians to adopt the company’s officer-monitoring software. Police departments could use Truleo’s results to demonstrate improved police force management. While it is smart, this strategy involves more resources and a larger network than a simple investment in marketing. Therefore, Truleo presents sales and adoption risks.

Truleo also has competition risk. Though the company’s service of providing feedback to officers is unique, the technology it uses is not. Its competitors could quickly build the same product if Truleo becomes more successful. If competitors have more resources and can get more contracts than Truleo, they could keep the startup from conquering enough market share to reach profitability.

Truleo’s software — which complements police body cameras using a scoring platform to evaluate officers’ interactions with the public — is a unique service for police departments. Our team could not find any other software that automatically analyzes the cloud-stored recordings from body cameras and provides quick and clear insights to police officers’ managers and department heads. Truleo’s software scores officers and helps objectively compare their performance week after week and set clear and actionable goals. This tool has a direct impact on officers’ behavior and allows them to be recognized for their professionalism. While I believe that the market could be too small for an initial public offering, Truleo has potential to get acquired by competitors who could integrate the software into their existing hardware. It could also be acquired by other tech-based companies willing to diversify their offerings or penetrate the police department market.

Truleo’s founders have been scrappy in their sales strategy, and their efforts prove their motivation. And Truleo’s current crowdfunding campaign seems to be going well. Co-founder Anthony Tassone told us that a StartEngine investor talked to his mayor about the product and generated a serious lead for the company. 

So far, several police departments across the country have adopted Truleo with positive results. The Seattle police department renewed its two-year contract. The Alameda, California police department saw a 36% drop in the use of force, a 30% drop in unprofessional language, and a 12% drop in civilian non-compliance.

Truleo is a unique offering for equity crowdfunding investors. Its software monitors police officers’ interactions with the public via body camera and scores them based on their language and other behavior. 

It can be difficult to penetrate institutional markets and compete against established body camera companies. But Truleo’s founders have demonstrated the scrappiness needed to get police departments on board. Investors who want to invest in a well-differentiated and well-performing startup while being aware of the market risks can find a good deal in Truleo. As a bonus, Truleo has the potential to make a long-lasting social impact on the relationship between civilians and police officers.

Report written by KingsCrowd Senior Investment Research Analyst Léa Bouhelier-Gautreau on June 14, 2023.