Abstract:
Facing the increasingly rampant problem of luxury goods counterfeiting, American startup Veritas is trying to use custom chip technology to provide new anti-counterfeiting solutions for brands. The company recently announced the launch of a second-generation product authentication chip, hoping to help brands and consumers more accurately verify the authenticity of products by embedding digital identities directly into the product itself.
The luxury goods industry has long been plagued by counterfeit goods. In recent years, counterfeit goods manufacturers have continued to improve their technology. Some so-called "high imitation" products can even copy brand logos, packaging and certification documents, making it increasingly difficult to identify authenticity. Veritas believes that traditional QR codes, ordinary NFC tags and other solutions are no longer able to meet the authentication needs of high-end brands.
Veritas was founded by Lucie Holland, a former Tesla technical product manager. She said that the core technology developed by the company is a specially designed microchip that can be directly embedded inside the product without damaging the product structure. Consumers can read the chip information via their smartphone and view the corresponding digital ownership certificate and product identity record in the Veritas app.
Unlike static QR codes or ordinary NFC tags, Veritas' solution uses a dynamic authentication mechanism. Every time the phone touches the chip, the system generates a security authentication response. At the same time, anti-disassembly wires are integrated inside the chip. Once the product is tampered with or the chip is illegally removed, the authentication system will be affected and abnormal conditions will be exposed. The company believes this approach can more closely tie physical and digital identities together.
According to the introduction, the newly released second-generation chip has been further upgraded compared to the first-generation product. It can work normally on metal surfaces and supports scanning and identification through glass. This means that the application scenarios are no longer limited to clothing and leather goods, but extend to more categories of high-value goods such as jewelry, trophies, hard material products, and perfume bottles.
Veritas said that the new generation of chips is ready for mass production and can provide brands with more ways to integrate certification capabilities directly into the products themselves, rather than relying on additional labels or external certification documents.
This week, the company also announced a partnership with women’s track and field event brand ATHLOS. As part of the cooperation, the 18 championship crowns awarded by the event will all have built-in Veritas chips to ensure that their origin and authenticity can be verified.
In addition to competition cooperation, Veritas has also implanted chips into a pair of LeBron James' first Nike sneakers redesigned by artist Adam Port. Users only need to touch the sneakers with their mobile phones to view the historical background, creation story and related digital information of the collection.
In terms of financing, Veritas has completed US$1.75 million in pre-seed financing so far. This round of financing was led by Seven Seven Six, the venture capital arm of Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and other investors include DoorDash co-founder Stanley Tang and many other entrepreneurs and investors.
Since closing its funding earlier this year, Veritas has launched a consumer-facing iOS app and brand management platform. Brands can not only manage product certification records, but also use the platform to provide consumers with value-added services such as member communities, event check-ins, and priority purchase qualifications for limited products.
As the global second-hand luxury goods market continues to expand, product authenticity certification is becoming a pain point in the industry. Veritas hopes to establish a verifiable digital identity system from production, circulation to resale by directly embedding anti-counterfeiting chips into products, thereby reducing the risk of counterfeit goods circulation and establishing a long-term connection between brands and consumers.
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