Cambridge, UK, August 2025 – Zinergy, a leader in non-lithium battery technology, and InPlay, a pioneer in Bluetooth™ Low Energy (BLE) chip design, have announced a breakthrough collaboration enabling a new generation of safe, low-cost, battery-powered BLE labels for logistics and cold chain applications.
The demand for reliable, real-time asset data is growing rapidly as global supply chains seek greater efficiency and increased product traceability. However, widespread adoption of smart label technology has been challenged by both the cost of smart labels and concerns around the fire safety and toxicity of lithium batteries.
Zinergy and InPlay bring complementary expertise together to address these challenges:
- Zinergy has developed a safe, flexible battery specifically optimised for smart BLE label applications. Using non-lithium chemistry, Zinergy batteries deliver reliable performance over a wide range of temperatures and eliminate any safety concerns. The chemistry is rated as safe by IATA and requires no documentation for air transportation. Zinergy’s custom design and optimisation service provides exactly the right performance for logistics applications, while printing batteries significantly reduces cost.
- InPlay has engineered the IN100 BLE chip, designed specifically for asset tracking and logistics needs. The IN100 achieves industry-leading energy efficiency through ultra-low power consumption and a cut-off voltage as low as 1.1V, designed to maximize battery life and enable further system cost reductions.
The result is a BLE label platform that delivers industry-leading performance at a breakthrough price point.
“This platform showcases how InPlay’s IN100 NanoBeacon SoC has been optimised for printable battery-powered applications” said Jason Wu, CEO of InPlay Inc. “With industry-leading energy efficiency and ultra-low cut-off voltage, we’re allowing energy to be drawn efficiently from the battery and labels to be optimised for lower cost and longer battery life.”
This is particularly important for applications where energy harvesting is challenging and data continuity is critical for traceability.
“During transportation inside containers, airplanes and in the back of trucks, the ability to harvest electromagnetic energy is severely limited. The same is true in dark warehouses.” said Pritesh Hiralal, CTO of Zinergy. “This can lead to data “gaps” when sufficient energy cannot be harvested and data traceability suffers. In these situations, a battery ensures continuity of data and full traceability”
According to operational requirements, Zinergy and InPlay provide a portfolio of solutions to support your label development. If you are looking to break the cost barrier of BLE tracking labels, and need consistent data, even over long distances, please get in contact.
About InPlay Inc.
InPlay Inc. is a pioneering technology company specializing in the development of advanced wireless communication solutions for the IoT market. Our products are designed to deliver high performance, ultra-low power consumption, and robust security, addressing the most demanding requirements of industrial and consumer applications.
About Zinergy
Zinergy is a world-leading manufacturer of thin, flexible batteries. The company was originally spun by a team from the University of Cambridge in 2015. It supplies printed batteries to label manufacturers and logistics service providers around the world, powering wireless labels including RFID temperature loggers, BLE, Sigfox, LoRaWAN, WiFi and cellular (LTE technology) asset trackers.
