Adresta: The startup that keeps a close watch on the luxury goods industry

24.02.2022 07:00, Isabelle Mitchell

A jury of experts and investors went through 90 applications and selected Adresta to participate in the Venture Leaders Mobile 2022 roadshow. At the end of February, the Zurich-based startup and the Swiss National Startup Team members will attend the Mobile World Congress 2022 in Barcelona. Before the 10 entrepreneurs meet with top-notch investors and industry leaders to strengthen their business network and advance their globalization, we want to introduce you to Adresta co-founder and CEO Mathew Jobin Chittazhathu. 

Adresta combines new technologies and blockchain to redefine how you experience physical products. Starting with watches, Adresta’s SaaS offers innovative solutions and enables brands to know their end-consumer during the product lifecycle. The Zurich-based startup creates digital twins for luxury goods, connects them to the rightful owner, and makes them accessible via its web and mobile applications together with the history of a watch—from its manufacturer to service and repair to pre-owned sales. Adresta increases transparency and security and opens up a trustworthy digital ecosystem with embedded services, such as insurance.

Name: Mathew Jobin Chittazhathu
Location: Zürich
Nationality: Swiss
Graduated with: MSc. business administration, innovation management
Job title: Co-founder and CEO of Adresta
Number of employees: 9
Money raised: CHF 1 million
First touchpoint with Venturelab: In 2020, we attended the Innosuisse Start-up Training Business Creation ICT

Mathew, can you summarize what Adresta does?
Adresta provides SaaS for luxury brands to redefine the ownership experience by creating digital twins (NFTs) for their physical products owned by the end consumer. The NFTs connect the brand, owner, and third parties to a mobile-first digital ecosystem with facilitated after-sales processes and value-adding services, such as insurance.
 
How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?
Adresta was incubated in the Helvetia Insurance Group, where I was working as a senior manager for the corporate development unit. Everything started with a small project focused on the secondhand market for high-end watches, where a huge trust dilemma exists—you never know if a watch is genuine or not. We also talked to watch manufacturers and realized that they struggle to know their customers and engage with them. That’s when we came up with the idea of building software that enables brands to create a blockchain-based digital twin for every product sold. Owners claim it on their Adresta account and prove authenticity, ownership, and access to a new world of experiences.
 
What do you expect from the Venture Leaders Mobile roadshow, and how will it help you achieve your vision?
We are looking forward to meeting potential investors and collaboration partners and sharing our vision of impacting the customer experience in the luxury industry. Furthermore, we also look forward to meeting potential partners to add to our digital ecosystem for the luxury industry.

What was your dream job when you were a child?
As a kid, we visited India twice a year. During those visits, I was shocked to see poverty and wanted to change something. So, I wanted to become the Indian president to help those people.

What is always in your fridge? 
Naturally, with my roots, I love spicy foods. I use spices for literally everything—in my pasta, sandwich, etc. Therefore, I always have something spicy in my fridge.

What advice would you give your teenage self?
There is a lot of advice that I would give my teenage self. But the most significant piece of advice I would give is plain and straightforward: Buy Bitcoins as early as possible.

What is your favorite productivity hack? 
Sometimes, I prefer to call people up instead of email back and forth. This saves time, and usually, you get more insights from a phone call than an email conversation.

Where and when are you most productive?
I like to be in the office early in the morning and get things done.

How and where do you clear your mind? 
Spending time with family and friends helps me clear my mind. I also like to follow the games of my favorite basketball team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Who inspires you?
My parents’ work ethic and focus are very remarkable. They sacrificed a lot coming to a country where they barely knew the language and had to integrate with a different culture—without them, I would not be giving this interview.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder? 
Surround yourself with awesome co-founders. The startup journey is a marathon. You don’t want to be alone on this journey. I had the luck to meet my co-founders, Leonie Flückiger and Nicolas Borgeaud, and I am grateful to build my startup with them.

What is the best advice you have ever received?
One of my mentors gave me the following advice: When things get hard, the easiest thing you can do is run away. But you can’t always run when life gets hard—you will end up running your whole life. You must learn to suck it up and feel comfortable stepping out of your comfort zone.


For more information and updates on Adresta and the Venture Leaders Mobile, follow the Venture Leaders Mobile 2022 team with #VleadersMobile on social media or subscribe to our newsletter. 
 
This year’s Venture Leaders Mobile program is supported by Huawei, Swisscom, and VISCHER.