RagTagd reinvents the lost and found

Each day, kids go to school and lose things. But RagTagd, a Sydney-based company, is looking to fix that.

RagTagd is a service that provides ultra-simple RFID tags in kids’ school uniforms and sensor-equipped bins to schools so that lost property can be tracked. When a kid’s lost jumper ends up in a bin at their school, the second it hits the bin a text is sent to the child’s parents letting them know where it is.

The project (founded by Chloe Blattmann and Eugene Holdenson) started in 2016. The team introduced their smart tags (which are machine washable) at five local elementary schools. Since, the company has worked with more than 100 schools, with more than 21,000 items on the platform and nearly 3,000 items returned to their owners.

In the early days, RagTagd would sew the tags directly into the items of clothing, but the company has now moved on to a deal with Spartan, one of the biggest uniform distributors in Australia. Spartan is now integrating the RagTagd technology directly into their products.

The company hopes to sign a similar deal in the UK where school uniforms are also the norm.

Beyond schools, RagTagd sees an opportunity to introduce its technology to elder care facilities at some point.