BillerudKorsnäs invests in ‘Internet of Packaging’
BillerudKorsnäs is continuing to invest in innovation to meet the packaging challenges of the future and invests in a minority stake in Norwegian innovation company Kezzler AS. The company is a global leader in digital mass encryption for secure product identification.
BillerudKorsnäs is challenging conventional packaging for a sustainable future and has a clear strategy in which a portion of growth will be generated through new sales and solutions further along the packaging value chain. As part of this, BillerudKorsnäs Venture AB was established in the spring with tasks including finding and investing in early stage companies. The aim is to work closely and actively together with these companies to develop new packaging related solutions. Digitalised packaging, also referred to as ‘The Internet of Packaging’, is one of the areas that the business is focusing on and the investment in Kezzler is a first important step in this direction. In financial terms, this is a minor investment for BillerudKorsnäs.
“Kezzler is a pioneer in its field, with a technology that enables packaging to be assigned unique codes at the individual product level for identification at mass scale. We believe Kezzler’s technology is highly interesting for packaging for eg. food and other consumer goods where traceability and authenticity is important, it also offers a new channel for real time consumer interaction. This area of development is of strategic interest to us,” said Anders Persson, Managing Director of BillerudKorsnäs Venture.
“We believe BillerudKorsnäs is an excellent strategic fit for digitalisation and the internet of packaging,” said Thomas Körmendi, CEO of Kezzler. “We are currently in a high growth phase and BillerudKorsnäs is our very first industrial investor. Their knowledge about the packaging chain and the packaging market will facilitate our continued development.”
Kezzler AS has developed an algorithm for a unique encrypted code, which is applied to packaging and can easily be scanned using a smartphone. The technology is secure and cost effective and can be used on a mass scale. The codes are used to assign a unique identity to product items, which enables tracing in the supply chain, interacting with consumers and protecting products and brands against counterfeiting, all in real time. Find out more at www.kezzler.com.
For more information, please contact:
Henrik Essén, Senior Vice President Communication and Sustainability, +46 (0)730-573 801, henrik.essen@billerudkorsnas.com
Paul Laland, VP Corporate Affairs, Kezzler, +1 415 519 6610, p.laland@kezzler.com
BillerudKorsnäs provides packaging materials and -solutions that challenge conventional packaging for a sustainable future. We are a world leading provider of primary fibre based packaging materials and have customers in over 100 countries. The company has 8 production sites in Sweden, Finland and the UK and about 4 200 employees in over 13 countries. BillerudKorsnäs has an annual turnover of about SEK 22 billion and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. www.billerudkorsnas.com