Card collectors often fight over the value of their cards. New Jersey-based CollX provides a free iOS and Android app for card enthusiasts that allows them to digitize their trading cards and get value in return.
Launched in January last year, the app now has over 600,000 users who have scanned over 100 million cards. CEO Ted Mann told TechCrunch on a call that the company has created a proprietary database of more than 20 million cards ranging from Pokemon to sports that helps the CollX app determine a card’s value.
The idea came when Mann’s son, Charlie, started collecting cards during the pandemic, but struggled to determine their value. The father-son duo tried many tools and forums, including eBay, to determine the prices for these cards, but found it a tedious task and decided to create an app.
CollX has raised a $5.5 million seed round led by Brand Foundry Ventures with participation from Next Coast Ventures, FJ Labs, 114 Ventures, Ben Franklin Technology Partners and Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners. The company has had a long list of angel investors, including Nat Turner, DJ Skee, David Adelman, Darren Lachtman, Brad Stadler, Ryan Schinman and Robert J. Moore.
Picture credits: CollX
The startup aims to build a marketplace to facilitate exchanges between card merchants. Currently, the app is helping two collectors connect and discuss a potential deal. But they have to exchange contact details and exchange money manually. CollX wants to help facilitate these transactions and, in turn, take a stake as well.
“85 million American adults own trading cards, but most have no idea of their value. We launched CollX with a simple utility to eliminate itching. It’s become a gateway to help people digitize their collections, make millions of dollars in transactions, learn how to classify cards, and much more. We are just getting started,” Mann said in a statement.
Currently, the startup is making money from Card Dealer Pro, a startup it acquired last year, which helps card shops quickly scan and upload their inventory. Mann said there are thousands of stores in the United States that have a large collection of maps, and this software helps them scan and track those maps better than creating a spreadsheet.
Mann mentioned that he also wanted to help these stores list their collection on CollX. Thus, users will end up being exposed to a larger collection for potential purchases. In the long term, the startup also wants to integrate other collectibles such as coins and stamps on CollX.
Over the past few years, collectibles like cards have emerged as an alternative asset class, with several startups securing notable funding. The Alt collection trading platform has raised over $300 million to date from investors including Jeff Fagnan and Naval Ravikant, Spearhead and Seven Seven Six Capital. Last year, entrepreneur Brian Lee and baseball legend Derek Jeter launched a sports card-focused startup with $9 million backing from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Defy.vc and BAM Ventures. Meanwhile, eBay acquired trading card market TGCPlayer for $295 million.
“CollX has become a force in the hobby in a very short time. The secondary market for cards is big, but we see an opportunity for it to grow 2-3x. And CollX will be at the center of that, helping collectors to advance in the hobby,” Brand Foundry’s Wesley Gottesman said in a statement.
