Portuguese startup can detect the real deal

A Portuguese startup has developed technology that can determine of a product is genuine or false. 

Monttra uses a mega data base platform and digital application to verify the authenticity of a product throughout the length of the distribution chain until the final client.The startup, based in Vila nova de Familicão, aims to revolutionise the control of counterfeits, making it impossible for fake counterfeit products to come onto the market.And unlike the current anti-counterfeit solutions on the market, it can detect fakes without having to rely to production quality or check the compliance of a component, piece or brand product.The founders discovered that it would be easier to combat counterfeits if the detection process was centred around the transmission of the property of the object and not based on its production of physical characteristics.It was the brainchild of founder Fernando Veloso who began working on the project around eight months ago and who admits to the weekend newspaper Expresso that they “didn’t have to invest much.”In fact, developing the data platform and a mobile application involved an investment of just €10,000.“I hired an IT company and offered them the opportunity to take a capital share in Monttra or sell the platform development service. They decided to be our partners” explains Fernando Veloso who runs the business with three other partners.The system enables manufacturers and brands to chart, in real time, the course of each item produced until it reaches the final client.And according to the European Union’s Intellectual Property organisation (EUIPO), “In Portugal, the loss of sales in the clothing, footwear and accessories sector due to counterfeiting is worth around €635 million per year or 14% of all sales.Monttra already has its first client, Reguladora, the oldest watchmaking manufacturer on the Iberian peninsula and is currently negotiating its first contracts with national manufacturers linked to fashion, wine, pharmaceuticals, skin cosmetics and car components.