butterfly & elephant, the accelerator of GS1 Germany, invests in info.link. The startup offers a platform for creating digital labels that enable companies to design product packaging in compliance with legal requirements.
Initially, the info.link team focused on implementing the EU Green Deal directive on “Green Claims,” which addresses measures to combat greenwashing. Today, the startup supports companies in creating digital labels and aims to drive the adoption of the new generation of barcodes.
Using the info.link platform, packaging labels with QR codes can be quickly and easily created and managed. Combined with the GS1 Digital Link standard, the QR code becomes dynamic—acting like a “switch” that delivers product-specific information depending on time and location when scanned. This allows, for example, verification of Green Claims to ensure compliance with EU regulations.
The software was developed in close collaboration with legal experts and enables the integration of more than 50 services, such as the digital product passport, recycling information, and promotional mechanics.
The New Investment: info.link
"Thanks to GS1 standards such as the GS1 Digital Link, we have already been able to offer many of our customers a future-proof QR code through info.link that can meet all upcoming requirements. With butterfly & elephant by our side, we can build on this even more," say the founders Christoph Goeken and Max Ackermann.
Together, they have founded multiple companies and share over 30 years of experience in consumer goods, software development, and academia. The idea for info.link originated during a shopping trip to a drugstore in Hamburg, where they noticed that nearly a third of the packaging of a skincare line was used to communicate a single sustainability claim. Yet even that claim did not meet strict transparency and anti-misleading standards.
Aware that transparency requirements would continue to increase, the founders realized that companies need a simple way to digitally, quickly, and legally share product information with consumers.
info.link und butterfly & elephant: Ein perfect match
The startup is now supported by butterfly & elephant.
The accelerator of GS1 Germany has made it its mission to combine the best qualities of the startup world and established companies. In addition to equity investment, the collaboration primarily offers access to the GS1 community—a network of over 97,000 business customers—as well as the use of GS1 standards. This opens up valuable market and cooperation opportunities for startups and is complemented by further partnerships and direct application fields.
"I am very pleased to join existing investors such as Green Generation Fund and APX to support info.link on their journey," says Managing Director Benjamin Birker.
Press photo: info.link founders Christoph Goeken (left) and Max Ackermann (right)
Image rights: © info.link
Press Contact:
GS1 Germany GmbH
Tassja Wagner
Manager Corporate Communications
Stolberger Strasse 108 a, 50933 Cologne
Phone: +49 170 7009027
Email: tassja.wagner@gs1.de
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