AirTag was a French startup that was acquired by Morpho, at the time a Safran subsidiary, in 2015.[1][2] It was a mobile shopping and payments provider.[3][4]
AirTag was a French startup that was acquired by Morpho, at the time a Safran subsidiary, in 2015.[1][2] It was a mobile shopping and payments provider.[3][4]
AirTag was founded in 2006 by Jérémie Leroyer, Cyrille Porteret, Cedric Nicolas and Gunnar Graef. As of late 2012, investors had provided €6 million in seed capital,[5] following a second-round in 2011 when it secured €4 million.[6]
In October 2008, AirTag launched what it called the first NFC software development kit (SDK). It included an NFC reader and four types of NFC tags.[7][8] In 2012, the company launched another SDK. This one included hardware for smartphone-based payments.[9]
In 2009, AirTag and its partner Netsize launched Airtag Pad, an in-store terminal for clients to check their loyalty points, ask about tailored products, etc. Reebok hired it for its line of Go Sport stores.[10]
Nokia C7, the world's first smartphone with an NFC chip, was able to pick up loyalty points and discount coupons on the phone, through a partnership with AirTag.[11]
AirTag built McDonald's France smartphone app GoMcDo[12] which was one of the first to integrate with Apple's Passbook soon after the latter's initial launch with iOS 6 in 2012.[13][14][15]
In 2012, Carrefour's mobile app for near-field communication (NFC) purchasing was built by AirTag.[16] In 2013, French newspaper L'Express ranked AirTag among the top 30 French internet startups.[17] That same spring, AirTag launched KFC’s first mobile wallet to order and pay via smartphone;[18] three months later, 90% of those installing the app were placing orders through it.[19] Late that year, AirTag admitted it was not profitable.[5]
In 2014, the company had 50 employees when it launched mobile commerce applications for Dia France[20][21][22] and for Brioche Dorée.[23]
On November 28, 2018, the sole shareholder Idemia Identity et Security France[24] (Courvevoie) decided to dissolve Airtag early without liquidation.[25]
Whereas AirTag said it launched the first NFC SDK in late 2008, industry magazine RFID Update said at the time that there were pre-existing SDK's from Nokia and from Alvin Systems.[7]
