Card collectors typically dispute how a lot their playing cards are price. New Jersey-based CollX offers a free iOS and Android app to card fans that enables them to scan their buying and selling playing cards and get worth in return.

Launched in January final 12 months, the app has now greater than 600,000 customers who’ve scanned greater than 100 million playing cards. CEO Ted Mann advised TechCrunch over a name that the corporate has made a proprietary database of greater than 20 million playing cards starting from Pokemon to sports activities that helps the CollX app to find out a card’s worth.

The concept got here from the time when Mann’s son Charlie began gathering playing cards through the pandemic however discovered it exhausting to find out their worth. The daddy-son duo tried many instruments and boards together with eBay to find out the costs of those playing cards however felt that it was a tedious activity and determined to construct an app.

CollX has raised a seed spherical of $5.5 million led by Model Foundry Ventures with participation from Subsequent Coast Ventures, FJ Labs, 114 Ventures, Ben Franklin Expertise Companions, and Morrison Seger Enterprise Capital Companions. The corporate has had an extended listing of angel traders together with Nat Turner, DJ Skee, David Adelman, Darren Lachtman, Brad Stadler, Ryan Schinman, and Robert J. Moore.

Picture Credit: CollX

The startup goals to construct a market to facilitate trades between card sellers. Presently, the app helps two collectors join and have a dialog over a possible deal. However they need to trade the tackle particulars and trade cash manually. CollX desires to assist facilitate these transactions, and in flip, take a reduce as effectively.

“85 million American adults personal buying and selling playing cards, however most do not know what they’re price. We launched CollX with a easy utility to scratch the what’s-it-worth itch. That’s turn into a gateway to serving to people digitize their collections, do hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in offers, learn to grade playing cards, and far more. We’re simply getting began,” Mann mentioned in a press release.

In the mean time, the startup earns cash from Card Vendor Professional, a startup it acquired final 12 months, which helps card retailers rapidly scan and add their stock. Mann mentioned that there are literally thousands of retailers within the US which have a big card assortment and this software program helps them digitize and preserve monitor of these playing cards higher than making a spreadsheet.

Mann talked about that he additionally desires to assist these retailers listing their assortment on CollX. So ultimately customers can have publicity to an even bigger assortment for potential purchases. In the long term, the startup desires to onboard different collectibles like cash and stamps on CollX as effectively.

Prior to now few years, collectibles like playing cards have emerged as a substitute asset class with a number of startups getting notable funding. Collectible buying and selling platform Alt has raised greater than $300 million up to now from traders like Jeff Fagnan and Naval Ravikant-led Spearhead and Seven Seven Six Capital. Final 12 months, entrepreneur Brian Lee and Baseball legend Derek Jeter launched a sports activities card-focused startup with $9 million backing from Lightspeed Enterprise Companions, Defy.vc and BAM Ventures. On the similar time, eBay acquired buying and selling card market TGCPlayer for $295 million.

“CollX has grown to turn into a power within the passion in a really brief time frame. The secondary marketplace for playing cards is massive, however we see a chance for it to develop 2-3x. And CollX might be on the heart of that, serving to collectors degree up within the passion,” Wesley Gottesman of Model Foundry mentioned in a press release.