Hobby Tech Company Hits Wall Street
The hobby made its mark on Wall Street this morning. Ludex CEO and founder Brian Ludden, along with president and co-founder Heather Denniston rang in the trading day on the floor of the Nasdaq Exchange in New York City. The opportunity was given to Ludex after the company won a 2023 Chicago Innovation Award for its development of cutting-edge AI tech in the trading card space, used to identify cards on its app.
“It really was surreal,” said Ludden of ringing the bell. “What an honor. A testament to our team and all the talented individuals who made this happen.
“It’s funny, I worked for 25 years with companies on the Chicago trading floor and never rang the bell. Now with Ludex, here I am.”
Launched just 18 months ago, the Ludex app has already scanned and identified over 130 million trading cards.
“We’re very happy with the models we have built,” Ludden said. “To be honest, the hardest cards to identify are the parallels. That was by far the most difficult thing to do.”
With continued investment from former NFL star Brian Urlacher and businessman Kevin Harrington, Ludex is aiming to have a sophisticated cross-listing option available later this year, to place cards with eBay and Ludex.
“We’re creating a marketplace,” said Ludden. “We want users to be able to open a pack, scan and list in under a minute.”
Next stop for Ludden on his trip to NYC is VaynerMedia headquarters. He’ll be live streaming a break of a VeeFriends Series 1 box tomorrow at 5:55 p.m ET on Fanatics Live.
