Veritas Bets on Anti-Counterfeit Chips as Luxury Brands Hunt for Harder Proof of Authenticity

Veritas, a startup founded by former Tesla product manager Luci Holland, is expanding its anti-counterfeit chip into jewelry, trophies and fragrance bottles as luxury brands search for tougher ways to prove an item is genuine. The company’s pitch matters because counterfeit sellers are increasingly able to mimic branded goods with alarming precision, making it harder for consumers and brands to tell a real product from a convincing fake.

The new version of Veritas’ chip is designed to be embedded directly into products and to create a stronger link between the physical item and its digital record. The company says that approach is intended to make copycat verification schemes harder to defeat than QR codes or static NFC tags, which can be duplicated and reused.

Veritas’ latest push comes as the startup moves beyond apparel authentication and into a wider set of premium objects that are difficult to secure with conventional labels or packaging. The company says the chip can now work on metal surfaces and can even be scanned through glass, opening the door to new uses in high-end retail, collectibles and branded experiences.

Why Veritas thinks luxury authentication needs a hardware reset

Veritas believes the luxury market has reached a point where digital records alone are no longer enough. Counterfeiters have become adept at copying logos, tags and codes, and so-called superfakes can look convincing enough to fool shoppers and even some resale marketplaces.

According to the company, that problem is especially acute when brands rely on visible markers that can be photographed, duplicated or linked to a fake product after the fact. Veritas is trying to solve the issue by moving authentication from a visible sticker or printed code into the object itself.

Holland said the startup’s system is built around a secure chip response that changes with each tap and includes tamper detection, creating a tighter bond between the item and its digital identity.

That distinction is central to the company’s strategy. Rather than treating ownership verification as a separate digital layer, Veritas wants the proof to be rooted in the product’s physical structure.

How does Veritas’ chip work?

The chip is meant to be inserted into a product without damaging it, then read through the company’s app. When a user taps a phone to a verified item, the app can display a certificate of ownership or item history.

Veritas says the chip produces an authenticated response each time it is scanned. It also includes a tamper-detection wire, which is intended to show if someone has tried to remove or alter the chip. The company argues that this makes the verification process much harder to spoof than a copyable QR code or a fixed NFC link.

The startup’s thesis is simple: if the digital identity cannot be separated from the product without breaking the proof, counterfeiters lose an easy way to imitate authenticity.

What changed in the second version of the chip?

The biggest upgrade is compatibility. Veritas says the new chip is ready for production and can be used on metal surfaces, a major benefit for categories such as jewelry and trophies. It also works through glass, which makes it more suitable for fragrance bottles and other display-oriented items.

That matters because many high-value products are not made from fabric or plastic. A practical authentication tool has to survive different materials, shapes and finishes without becoming intrusive or damaging the item’s appearance.

Holland said the updated hardware broadens where brands can build authenticity into the product itself, rather than attaching a separate label after the fact. For luxury companies, that could make anti-counterfeit technology feel less like a security add-on and more like part of the product experience.

What kinds of products can it support now?

Veritas says the chip can now be used across garments, jewelry, trophies, hard-surface products and glass objects. In practice, that opens the door to items that are sold as both luxury goods and collectible artifacts, where provenance can affect both value and desirability.

• Apparel and fashion items
• Jewelry and other metal accessories
• Trophies and event awards
• Fragrance bottles and glass packaging
• Collectible products and artist editions

Why brands are interested in authenticated ownership experiences

Veritas is not only selling security. It is also selling a set of customer experiences that brands can build on top of authentication. Through its consumer app and company portal, brands can manage product records and create owner-only benefits.

Those benefits can include club access, event check-ins and early entry to limited product drops. In other words, the same chip that proves ownership can also become the key to a branded membership layer.

That model is attractive in a market where luxury brands are increasingly looking for ways to maintain a relationship with buyers after the sale. Authentication can become a customer engagement tool, a resale signal and a loyalty mechanism all at once.

How does the app fit into the business model?

The app gives consumers a way to verify an item and view its certificate, while the brand portal lets companies manage records and design the post-purchase experience. Veritas is betting that authentication becomes more valuable when it is tied to community, exclusivity and event access.

That approach can also support brands that want to distinguish genuine owners from the broader market. If an item is authenticated at the object level, the brand can use that identity to unlock experiences only for the verified owner.

How ATHLOS and LeBron James brought visibility to the product

One of Veritas’ most prominent recent partnerships is with ATHLOS, the women’s track-and-field competition founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Ohanian is also an investor in Veritas, which deepens the connection between the startup and the new deal.

As part of the partnership, all 18 championship crowns used by ATHLOS will include Veritas chips so they can be authenticated. For a competition built around recognition and prestige, that kind of verification helps ensure the trophies themselves carry a traceable identity.

The company has also embedded a chip into a pair of LeBron James’ first Nike shoes, reimagined by artist Adam Port. When tapped, the shoe opens a story and history page on a phone, turning the item into a documented collectible rather than just a display piece.

The LeBron project illustrates how Veritas wants brands to use the chip not only for authentication, but also to tell the object’s story and deepen its cultural value.

That mix of security and storytelling is likely to be important as the company expands. In luxury and collectibles, provenance is often part of the product itself.

Who is backing Veritas and how much has it raised?

Veritas has raised $1.75 million in pre-seed funding so far. The round was led by Seven Seven Six, the venture firm founded by Alexis Ohanian, and included several notable backers from consumer tech and brands.

Investors include DoorDash co-founder Stanley Tang, Gloria Zhu, who co-founded skincare brand Reys, and Josh Constine, a former TechCrunch editor. The mix suggests Veritas is appealing to both startup investors and people with experience in products, consumer behavior and online communities.

For a hardware-driven authentication company, even a relatively small pre-seed round can be enough to build early manufacturing, software and pilot programs. But broader adoption will likely depend on whether major brands see a clear return on the added cost and complexity of embedding chips into products.

What does Veritas’ progress say about the luxury counterfeiting market?

Veritas’ momentum highlights a wider shift in the way brands think about anti-counterfeit tools. For years, many companies leaned on packaging features, QR codes, holograms or software databases. Those methods can help, but they often fail when counterfeiters are good enough to mimic the surface-level details.

The company is arguing that the next stage of authentication has to be more physically grounded. If the chip is embedded, tamper-aware and linked to a product-specific identity, a fake version becomes harder to pass off as real.

That could be especially important in categories where buyers are increasingly willing to pay for provenance. In fashion, jewelry and collectibles, authenticity is not just about avoiding fraud; it is also about preserving resale value, brand trust and emotional attachment.

Why this could matter beyond luxury fashion

While the company was founded to address luxury counterfeits, its new chip has broader implications. Any market that depends on verifiable ownership could potentially use a system like this, from limited-edition art pieces to awards, memorabilia and branded consumer goods.

As more businesses look for ways to connect physical products with digital records, product-level authentication may become a standard feature rather than a niche security tool. Veritas is trying to position itself early in that transition.

Timeline of Veritas’ expansion

The company’s development has moved quickly from product concept to practical deployments. Here is a simplified timeline of the startup’s recent milestones.

What comes next for Veritas?

The immediate challenge is scale. Turning authentication chips into a common feature across luxury and collectible goods will require convincing brands that the technology is worth adopting at production level.

That means proving not only that the chip is secure, but that it is easy enough to integrate into existing manufacturing and meaningful enough for consumers to use regularly. Veritas will also need to show that the app and brand portal create value beyond basic verification.

If it succeeds, the company could become part of a larger movement to make physical products more traceable, interactive and resistant to fraud. If it stalls, it may join a long line of promising anti-counterfeit tools that struggled to move from pilot projects into everyday use.

For now, Veritas is making a clear bet: in a world of increasingly convincing fakes, the best proof of authenticity may be a chip built into the object itself.