The company specialising in authentication of collectable and vintage goods has closed its seed funding round with $3,425,000 raised. It currently focuses on luxury footwear but the team looks far ahead.

The funding round was led by Colbeck and Pantera Capital, supporting the ongoing Cronicled’s project of adding tamper proof Smart Tags to every pair of authentic sneakers which makes them easily verifiable.

“Collectible and vintage sneakers are just the beginning… Authenticity verification and provenance of luxury goods and other physical items is a huge untapped market,” says Dan Morehead, Partner at Pantera Capital.

Investors believe that privacy concerns will prompt consumers to control the data associated with their physical property, and that is exactly what blockchain provides for.

“By combining blockchain technology and smart tags, undetectable forgery becomes impossible, and wearing fakes becomes socially risky,” says Chronicled CEO Ryan Orr. “In five years, encrypted chips will be in all of your luxury consumer goods.”

The Chronicled App is currently available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The company urges sneaker brands to insert authenticity chips at the point of manufacture.

Chronicled is one of a number of startups developing solutions for authentication and tracking of brand goods. Another company providing services for authenticity-concerned clients is Blockchain Tech Ltd. It offers a secure registry that helps customers track the entire production process from creation of the item to the moment it gets to the counter.

Retail companies also start exploring blockchain solutions to win the trust of their customers. CoinFox reported earlier on startups facilitating the work of supply chains, as well as on companies that guarantee the authenticity of any type of goods, mass-consumption as well as luxury, via blockchain-supported tracking.

Maria Rudina