LuxTag

Based in Cyberjaya, Malaysia, LuxTag offers a suite of services centered on anti-counterfeiting, business insights, and customer engagement, all powered by blockchain technology. The company was conceptualized in 2016 and officially founded in 2017 by Rene Bernard, Faeez M Noor, and Jeff McDonald, a trio of tech enthusiasts who met at local tech meetups and shared a common interest in blockchain's potential. Their goal was to apply the technology to address the tangible problem of counterfeit goods, initially targeting the luxury sector. Rene Bernard, an international tech entrepreneur since 2002 with a background in engineering and e-commerce, became the CEO. The founders identified that traditional anti-counterfeit measures like stickers or paper certificates were easily forged, eroding consumer trust.

LuxTag's core business involves creating unique, digitized certificates of authenticity for physical products, which are then recorded on a blockchain. This process provides an immutable and transparent history of a product's origin, ownership, and lifecycle. The company's business model includes one-time implementation fees for customized projects and ongoing subscription packages for support and maintenance. It monetizes by charging for the creation of each digital certificate and for the customization of its solutions. While initially focused on luxury items, LuxTag found that large brands were hesitant to adopt new technology from a startup. This led the company to broaden its scope to other sectors, including securing educational credentials, apparel, and artworks. Notable clients include Swiss watchmaker Chronoswiss and US apparel manufacturer DeFeet.

The company's product offerings have evolved into standardized, scalable SaaS platforms. These include 'BrandTag', which enables businesses to prove ownership and track products, and 'DocuTag', a solution for issuing and managing secure digital documents like university diplomas. By linking physical items to a unique digital identity (a "digital twin"), LuxTag allows brands to gather post-sale business intelligence and engage directly with their customers. This system allows consumers to verify a product's authenticity with a simple scan, accessing its entire history and even activating warranties. Since its inception, the company has secured over $963K in funding across two seed rounds and participated in accelerator programs, including one by SAP.iO, to integrate its services with enterprise systems. In late 2021, Marcus Toy, previously the VP of Sales and Operations, was appointed as the new CEO to lead the company's shift towards a product-based SaaS business model.

Keywords: anti-counterfeit, blockchain authentication, product provenance, digital certificates, asset tracking, supply chain security, brand protection, track and trace, luxury goods authentication, document verification, SaaS, NEM blockchain, digital twin, ownership verification, customer engagement platform, business intelligence, IoT integration, authenticity verification, anti-theft solutions, e-scroll