BMW i Ventures invests in Alitheon

BMW i Ventures, the investment arm of the BMW Group, announced that it has made an investment in optical AI technology company, Alitheon. According to the California-based corporate venture capital firm, it has invested US$10-million in a Series A round of funding for the tech company. BMW i Ventures previously invested in the company’s seed round and is co-leading this round of investment alongside Imagine Ventures, a Seattle-based venture capital firm.

Alitheon’s FeaturePrint technology quickly and easily digitizes physical objects for irrefutable identification, authentication, and tracing, and eliminates misidentification and misuse of items. Counterfeits are a US$2.3 trillion annual problem that continues to grow globally. By using additive and antiquated solutions, such as stickers, barcodes, and QR codes, to identify items, companies place themselves at high risk of losing traceability and facing counterfeits.

The patented FeaturePrint technology from Alitheon creates for items what fingerprints are for people — a one-of-a-kind, unique identifier that does not require any changes to the item. By capturing an item’s image with a standard off-the-shelf camera, the FeaturePrint Optical AI “sees” and renders minuscule surface details of the item into its own unique profile. As a result, this enables effective identification of the item among millions like it, ensuring product authenticity and provenance.

“The counterfeit crisis is a major cause of concern — not only for economic reasons, but even more as individual safety is concerned. Alitheon’s cutting-edge technology and ability to bring trust and safety back to supply chains is groundbreaking. After participating in Alitheon’s Seed Funding, we’ve watched the growth of the team and the rising potential of its technology, and are excited to lead its Series A as they bring their product to market,” said BMW i Ventures Managing Partner Marcus Behrendt.

Alitheon designed FeaturePrint to be easy to use, which does not require any special hardware investment, change to the manufacturing line, or physical change to the item. Using just a standard camera, FeaturePrint enables irrefutable authentication, identification, and traceability of individual items.

By implementing FeaturePrint, counterfeits can be avoided, part misidentification is eliminated, and the wrong product use is minimized. FeaturePrint is the missing link connecting the digital and physical worlds.

“BMW i Ventures’ confidence and continued growing investment in Alitheon highlights the need across industries for a solution that reduces both bodily harm and financial risk, by reducing the use of counterfeits, and stopping the misuse of critical parts due to human error. This investment round supports our ability to scale and meet significant demand, and having BMW i Ventures in our corner makes this evermore significant,” commented Alitheon Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Roei Ganzarski.

Photos from BMW Group and Alitheon

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