Chronicled, Inc., a San Francisco-based technology company, has announced that it raised an additional $3,425,000 in a series seed financing round led by Mandra Capital, a Hong Kong-based VC firm, with participation from New York city based investment firm Colbeck and San Francisco based Pantera Capital, a leading investor in blockchain technology. 

The company intends to use the funding to build up its customer base, to implement a first-of-its-kind encrypted BLE tagging solution, and to expand its data and analytics capabilities. 

Founded in 2014, the company has developed a full hardware and software platform for authentication, tracking, and social engagement around collectible and vintage sneakers.  The platform provides a digital record of real world things. Chronicled assigns an identity to products by applying “smart tags” and “smart labels”, which contain encrypted microchips that link the objects to their digital records.  

“Our network of sneaker experts, retail, and brand partners are adding tamper proof Smart Tags to every pair of authentic sneakers. Smart Tags give each sneaker a digital presence on the Internet. Now anyone can verify a sneaker's authenticity with the tap of a mobile phone”, the website reads.

Since its soft launch at the annual CES Convention in Las Vegas in January 2016, Chronicled has authenticated thousands of pairs of collectible sneakers.  Its app is currently available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Chronicled intends all product registrations to be hosted on a blockchain based system and expects the transition in the next 12-36 months.

"Collectible and vintage sneakers are just the beginning.  The intersection of the consumer Internet of Things and blockchain is going to be a big trend over the next decade.  Authenticity verification and provenance of luxury goods and other physical items is a huge untapped market, and due to privacy concerns consumers will want to own the data history associated with their physical property, which is a benefit of a blockchain-based back-end”, said Dan Morehead, Partner at Pantera Capital. 

Chronicled will be launching its sneaker authentication service in the NYC area next month and is offering authenticity tags to consumers at Sneaker conventions and through partnerships with selected sneaker resellers and retailers.