Card collectors often dispute how much their cards are worth. New Jersey-based CollX offers a free iOS and Android app for card enthusiasts to scan their trading cards and get value back from them.
Launched last January, the app now has more than 600,000 users who have scanned more than 100 million cards. CEO Ted Mann told AapkaDost over the phone that the company has created its own 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 from when Mann’s son Charlie started collecting cards during the pandemic but found it difficult to determine their value. The father-son duo tried many tools and forums, including eBay, to determine the prices of these cards, but found it a tedious task and decided to build 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.
Image Credits: CollX
The startup aims to build a marketplace to facilitate transactions between card dealers. Currently, the app helps two collectors connect with each other and have a conversation about a possible deal. But they have to exchange the address details and money manually. CollX wants to help facilitate those transactions and, in turn, also take a share.
“85 million American adults own trading cards, but most of them have no idea what they are worth. We launched CollX with a simple utility to scratch the itch of what’s worth it. That has become a gateway to help people digitize their collections, close millions of dollars worth of deals, learn how to rate cards, and much more. We’re just getting started,” Mann said in a statement.
Right now, the startup is making money from Card Dealer Pro, a startup it acquired last year, which allows card shops to quickly scan and upload their inventory. Mann said there are thousands of stores in the US that have a large collection of cards and this software helps them digitize and track those cards better than they do a spreadsheet.
Mann said he also wants to help these stores put their collection on CollX. So in the end, users will be exposed to a larger collection for potential purchases. In the long run, the startup also wants other collectibles such as coins and stamps on board CollX.
In recent years, collectibles such as cards have emerged as an alternative asset class with multiple startups receiving notable funding. Collective trading platform Alt has raised more than $300 million to date from investors such as Jeff Fagnan and Naval Ravikant-led 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. At the same time, eBay acquired trading card marketplace TGCPlayer for $295 million.
“CollX has quickly become a household name in the hobby. The secondary market for cards is big, but we see an opportunity to grow 2-3x. And CollX will be at the center of that, helping collectors level up in the hobby,” Wesley Gottesman of Brand Foundry said in a statement.