Another year is in the books. 2022 was an exciting and momentous year for collectID as we worked hard, grew tremendously, and reached some of our biggest milestones yet.  

February’s Funding Boost

Perhaps the biggest milestone for us came at the beginning of the year. In February, we received a big funding boost of CHF 3.2M ($3.5M) led by SeventySix Capital and Hellen’s Rock which fuelled our growth for the remainder of the year. 

Sadly, the day of our funding boost also happened to be the same day Russia invaded Ukraine. While experiencing our high point of the year thus far, we were simultaneously experiencing the low, especially with several of our team members working from Ukraine. That said, we acknowledge the different ways in which 2022 was a challenging year for our team and for many others around the world. As we reflect on the year, we are extremely grateful for our team and what we were able to achieve together in spite of this tough time. 

We are very grateful to SeventySix Capital and Hellen’s Rock for believing in us and opening doors for us to achieve business growth globally. With their support, we were able to secure new clients in the sports, fashion, and wine industries while growing our team at the same time. 

Global Growth

Shortly after our funding boost, we secured our first NHL deal with the Nashville Predators. This also was our first partnership with a U.S. sports franchise. Breaking into this market exposed us to the vast opportunities in the U.S. sports industry. With these new opportunities in mind, we made the decision to build a U.S. based team to accelerate growth in North America in May. 

As we began to enter the sports industry in the States, we continued to develop existing relationships and establish new ones throughout Europe. In May, we worked with french football club, ESTAC Troyes to equip 15 game worn jerseys with collectID technology. The jerseys were sold in an online auction for 1,000-3,000 a piece and donated to UNICEF in support of child victims in the war in Ukraine. This project was special for us as it demonstrated how our technology can increase the value of a team’s merchandise, and how that value can be used to benefit a good cause. Shortly after our first project with ESTAC, we worked with them on a second project to put our technology in each of their jerseys for the 22-23 season. 

Also in May was our second project with Brazilian football club Atlético Mineiro. In our first project with them, we put our technology into 120,000 of their jerseys. Our second project, we increased the quantity to 150,000 to meet the growing demand. 

We also had two big projects in Germany this year. First was with football club FC Köln to equip fan scarves with collectID technology. The scarves were used as the fans’ ticket into the game simply by tapping it against the NFC reader at the gate. After checking into the game, fans received exclusive content and promotions from the club and its sponsors in real time. The second German club we worked with was the (American) football team, Frankfurt Galaxy. This was our first project with a football team and we helped them equip 10 game worn jerseys with our technology.

The success doesn’t end there. Throughout the year, we helped multiple sports organizations and clubs release a variety of items embedded with collectID technology including FC Zürich, BSC Young Boys, FC St. Gallen, SSC Bern, and Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Also, thanks to our partnership with Oschner Hockey, collectID technology can be found in nearly every jersey of Swiss ice hockey teams. 

While we reached big milestones in the sports industry this year, we also worked with several fashion brands including Sneakerness, SONRA, KangaROOS, and Ellyha. Additionally, at the end of 2021, we announced our wine subsidiary, vinID. One year later, we have 11 different wine brands using our technology to protect their brand and share their story. We are incredibly proud of all of these achievements and look forward to continuing many of these relationships and partnerships in 2023. 

Spreading the Word About collectID

On top of our projects, we also attended some big events and tradeshows. Some highlights include the wine action of VDP.Die Prädikatsweingüter, University of St. Gallen Talents Day, START Global Summit 2022, Sports Business Journal Dealmakers, Luxe Pack Monaco, and the #WeTechTogether Conference. These events are important in getting the collectID name out there and demonstrating the value of our technology. 

In November, our CEO, David, and Business Development Managers, Lukas and Katarina, traveled to Brazil. Throughout this week, we visited some of the most famous football clubs in the country including one of our clients, Atlético Mineiro, and attended Rio Innovation Week to speak on the benefits of phygital merchandise for sports clubs and brands.

Due to the success and growth throughout the year, in August we were selected for the Avery Dennison stretch, a global commercial pilot accelerator program. This six month program allows us to work with experts from Avery Dennison and Highline Beta to accelerate business and expand our customer base.

A Growing Team

Lastly, we also focused our efforts this year on building a team of smart, dedicated, and passionate individuals. In October, we got together for our first annual collectID Camp, spending half our time at our headquarters in Zurich and the other half in Austria. This week was packed with workshops, catered meals, and competitive table tennis sessions. Not only do we work hard and collaborate well as a team, but we also have a lot of fun together. We look forward to bringing on more people to the collectID family in the new year.

Looking forward to 2023

At collectID, we are passionate about working with our clients to bring the digital dimension to their physical merchandise. Our hope is to help others realize the value and limitless potential of phygital merchandise for both the brand and customer, and we came closer to this in 2022. All of our success and accomplishments would not be possible without belief from our investors, support from our partners and clients, and the hard work and dedication of our team here at collectID. We look back on 2022 with great pride and gratitude for our achievements and move into 2023 with determination, confidence, and optimism to reach new heights. Happy New Year!