A lot has happened. Let's start with the most important, our customers. We have collected new ones and expanded existing ones. We are especially pleased that the majority of our customers now come from the surrounding countries. In Germany in particular, we now have countless ZippSpace systems, so you are bound to find us somewhere within a radius of 100 kilometers. With the Emmendingen District Hospital, the SRH Central Hospital in Suhl, the Ammerland Clinic, the Evangelical Elisabeth Clinic in Berlin and the University Hospitals of the Saarland and Freiburg, we again carried out a number of larger installations last year. 

In addition to the classic hospitals for Zippsafe, we were also able to serve companies from other industries in 2022. The Dr. Kurt Wolff Group, the department store Coop City or the food producer Hilcona are just a few. But enough with the references, let us give you a few figures. After all, Zippsafe now has over 150 customers, 45 of which were added last year. Our production in Budapest was running at full speed. 509 systems were produced and put into operation within 62 installations. 7’090 people will thus receive a new ZippSpace unit in 2022. The plants thereby save an incredible 2’836 square meters. 

There are also developments to report on the personnel side. With Dr. Urs Rickenbacher, we have found a great successor for the two retiring board members Yves von Ballmoos and Dr. Anja Oswald in time for the Annual General Meeting in June. The latter will remain with us and, together with Ramona Urwyler, Dr. Christophe Vetterli, and Urs Baumgartner, has formed our newly established Zippsafe Innovation Board since fall. We were already able to hold the first workshop in November, more will follow in 2023. In December, just in time for the end of the year, we were also able to onboard Osman Mohamed. He will replace Tobias Schneider as CFO and, after a successful handover, will further professionalize the Finance, Legal and Admin departments.

At the end of the year, our team numbered 53 employees, a full 40 % more than at the beginning of the year. This growth is largely due to our ambitious expansion strategy. Not only are we working on a new product generation and further variants of our smart clothing storage solution, but we have also positioned ourselves more internationally in 2022. With new account managers in the Netherlands and Belgium, we have laid the foundation for the effective handling of the BENELUX countries. We were even able to sign up the first employee in the USA. 

As you can easily see, we have taken a number of journeys in 2022. With the American investor Unorthodox Ventures at our side, the step to the USA was obvious. To better understand the market, Carlo Loderer and Jonathan Grahm traveled to the land of unlimited opportunities in fall. The participation in the Healthcare Design Conference was a real success, and Zippsafe won three of the prestigious Nightingale Awards. Further trips to Israel and Lithuania weren’t less promising. With the respective intention of meeting distributors, once again the bags were packed. The Polytex representatives at the Tel Aviv site, specializing in laundry dispensing systems, have already been won as partners. The company Hansab, active in the Baltic States, with a focus on sustainable and digital approaches in the healthcare sector, also showed interest. In the following year, both could support us in making Zippsafe known and thus revolutionize the locker market globally. 

By the way, we will soon have more than "just" changing solutions in our product range. As you may have heard, we are working together with the Kantonsspital Baden on a product for the transport of patient items. The ZippBag, again an intelligent bag-based solution, can be attached directly to the hospital bed and could be on the market as early as 2023. We will keep you updated in any case. It should be a successful year, stay tuned!