New York Startup Invents Genius Device That Detects Fake Designer Bags

By Carl Samson

A New York-based startup has created a device that can tell whether a designer bag is real or fake within minutes.

The company is called Entrupy, and their device acts as a portable scanner packed with complex detection algorithms.

The device magnifies objects 260 times, spotting erratic features that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye.

It works in tandem with the Entrupy app, which provides prompts on taking images.

The device achieved an authentication accuracy of over 98.5% in August, and it gets better as clients upload new photos.

Launched just a year ago, the startup was founded by Vidyuth Srinivasan, Ashlesh Sharma and Lakshminarayanan Subramanian, who all began working on the product in 2012.

Srinivasan, who was born in India and currently serves as Entrupy’s CEO, is a co-inventor of the device’s patented technology. He earned a journalism degree from Bangalore University while designing and developing video games for Raptor Entertainment.

CTO Sharma holds a Ph.D. from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. A deep learning expert, he specializes in physical unclonable functions, security and computer vision.

Chief Scientist Subramanian is currently an associate professor at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He studies networked systems and data science with applications in computing for development.

According to Bloomberg, the trio took off from an assumption that computers could be trained to look at luxury goods and extract identifying characteristics.

This work of deep learning, however, required a vast amount of data that none of them possessed — a large quantity of real and fake designer bags.

They managed to access the items eventually, and now, Entrupy has a database composed of millions of photos from at least 30,000 different bags.

Counterfeit manufacturers are facing an incredibly tough challenge should they attempt to beat the system.

“We have mapped significant parts of how, where and when authentic goods were made (so) for fakers to beat the system, they need to use the exact same specs as the authentic goods made in the last 100 years,” Srinivasan told CNBC. “I wouldn’t completely rule it out, but it is incredibly hard.”

Entrupy is poised to expand its ability to other products in the future.

“The technology works pretty well on everything except for diamonds and porcelain, because those are refractive and we use optical analysis,” Srinivasan told Bloomberg. “We’ve already tested it on auto parts, phones, chargers, headphones, jackets, shoes, even crude oil.”

For now, Entrupy’s device is available to lease from $299, and monthly pricing starts at $99.

Entrupy currently authenticates 11 brands: Balenciaga, Burberry, Céline, Chanel, Dior, Fendi, Goyard, Gucci, Hermès, Louis Vuitton and Prada. It must be noted, however, that it is not sponsored by or affiliated with any of the designers.

Check out how Entrupy works below:

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