Creating a Digital Passport for Every Product — TAGBASE Featured in BVZ

We’re proud to share that TAGBASE and our CEO & co-founder Manuel Mertl were recently featured in the Austrian newspaper BVZ (Burgenländische Volkszeitung) as part of their “Talk der Woche” series. The feature highlights our journey, vision, and how we’re redefining product authenticity on a global scale.

👉 Read the full BVZ article here (external link) 📸 (You can also view the full article image below.)

From a Personal Need to a Global Mission

TAGBASE was born out of a simple but urgent question: How can we truly know whether a product is genuine or fake? Founder Manuel Mertl discovered that while there are many so-called “authenticity solutions” on the market, most rely on static identifiers — like QR codes or serial numbers — that can be copied or shared.

“A truly secure solution must be dynamic — changing with every scan,” says Manuel. “And it has to work without a dedicated app, to make it easy and accessible for everyone.”

This insight led to the creation of TAGBASE, a platform that makes physical products digitally verifiable through dynamic NFC technology.

The Digital Passport for Physical Products

TAGBASE isn’t just another anti-counterfeiting solution — it’s a digital infrastructure for real-world products. Each TAGBASE NFC tag generates a unique, encrypted hash with every scan. This dynamic mechanism makes cloning impossible and turns each product interaction into a secure, one-of-a-kind verification event.

Best of all, no app is required — scanning works seamlessly with any NFC-enabled smartphone directly via the browser.

Brands can integrate TAGBASE easily using industry standards or deploy a white-label version so that the verification experience appears fully branded. As Manuel explains:

“Our technology allows brands to make the authenticity check feel like part of their own ecosystem — not a third-party tool.”

From Cosmetics to Certificates — Real-World Applications

TAGBASE is already being tested across several industries:

  • Medical devices (in cooperation with a Croatian manufacturer Synergotron )
  • Premium beverages (in partnership with a Vienna-based gin collective)
  • Certification authorities, using TAGBASE to make documents and certificates tamper-proof

This diversity showcases the universal potential of the technology — anywhere authenticity and trust matter.

Global Recognition and Momentum

TAGBASE has recently:

  • Presented in San Francisco at SAP Labs
  • Pitched at LEAP Tech Conference in Riyadh
  • Won 1st Place at the Riz Up Genius Award in the “Digital” category
  • and also won the AI Pitching Competition at the New Technologies Summit 2025
  • Joined multiple accelerator programs, including Techstars Web3 Founder Catalyst, accent Inkubator GmbH Accelerator, and THE EGG Accelerator

These milestones underline the growing international recognition of TAGBASE as a leading innovator in authentication and Web3 infrastructure.

Looking Ahead

Manuel and the team are now focusing on scaling from pilot projects to commercial rollouts across key industries such as cosmetics, premium beverages, spare parts, and luxury goods.

“Our goal is clear,” says Manuel. “We want TAGBASE to become the global standard for product authenticity.”

📖 About the BVZ Feature: The full interview, titled “Schaffen digitalen Reisepass für jedes Objekt”, appeared in BVZ, Week 45/2025, written by Michaela Grabner. (Insert the scanned image of the BVZ article here.)

Learn more about our mission at www.tagbase.io

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