Company
profile

Two former ETH students are revolutionizing the traditional locker with their idea of the Smart Soft Locker Solution.

ABOUT ZIPPSAFE

Zippsafe is revolutionizing lockers as well as locker room management while setting new standards with its Smart Soft Locker Solutions technology. Founded in 2016, the technology company is now a leading provider of smart and space-saving locker solutions for employee locker rooms in industries such as healthcare, pharmaceutical, industrial or office buildings. The solution offers maximum space efficiency with the best possible employee comfort. The company employs around 60 people in Zurich, Budapest, and Dusseldorf, and this number is growing. Development, marketing, and sales, as well as administrative activities, are managed at the headquarter in

Switzerland. Production is carried out by a number of production partners, while final assembly takes place at the company’s own assembly site in Hungary. German sales activities are organized from Dusseldorf. With the Smart Soft Locker Solution, space savings of up to 70% (often hundreds of square meters per building) are achieved compared to conventional locker systems. Thus, in times of urbanization and digitalization, Zippsafe enables the transformation toward space-saving and intelligent employee locker rooms while offering the best possible user-friendliness.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

The story of Zippsafe goes back to the year 2002 when the two founders Carlo Loderer and David Ballagi played in the same football club. Early on, they recognized their shared passion for tinkering and crafting. From tree huts to soapboxes to souped-up motorbikes, the appeal of technology and creating great things together has always lain dormant in them. Years later, while studying mechanical engineering at the ETH in Zurich, the two friends regularly organized music festivals for students. Their events are still considered legendary today. The number of visitors grew from year to year, which is why they were increasingly confronted with the same, tedious problem: organizing the cloakroom. The options were an attended cloakroom, lockers, or coat hooks. All options were suboptimal – expensive, space-consuming, or unsafe. Thus the idea of the bag-based self-service lockers or Smart Soft Locker Solution was born. In autumn 2015, the two took a semester off to develop a prototype and wanted to find out if there was a market for their product.

Carlo contacted companies from various industries. David, meanwhile, traveled to Hungary to find welders and steel constructors for production. Shortly after, they were able to win their first customer, which confirmed their idea and eventually triggered the founding of the company. More and more orders came in and over time the focus shifted to employee locker rooms in the healthcare and industrial sectors. Here, the space-efficient and intelligent features of the Smart Soft Locker Solution struck a chord. The products are now used by a broad clientele and in a wide range of industries across various countries. Every day, the entire Zippsafe team works to improve the world of employee locker rooms and increase operational efficiency and employee satisfaction. In times of densification and digitalization, we want to make a valuable contribution to making tomorrow’s world a little better.

Every day, the entire Zippsafe team works to improve the world of the employee locker rooms and increase operational efficiency and employee satisfaction. In times of consolidation and digitalization, we want to make a valuable impact in making tomorrow's world a bit better.

MEDIA & AWARDS