“Is that what they really look like?” “Did they Photoshop the pics of the house we’re renting?” “Is this actually what I’m buying or just a photo ripped off the Internet?” These are the questions Truepic wants to answer with the startup’s photo verification technology. Today Truepic unveils its SDK for embedding its tech in other products plus its own consumer app. Truepic is also announcing its $1.75 million seed round to fuel its hope of becoming “the world’s first digital photo notary”.
Here’s how it works. You either snap a photo (or video) inside Truepic’s consumer iOS or Android app, or within the app of a client that’s embedded its SDK. Truepic’s patented technology verifies that the image hasn’t been altered or edited, and watermarks it with a time stamp, geocode, and other metadata. Truepic stores a version of the photo in its digital vault and assigns it a six-digit code and URL for retrieving it. If necessary, blockchain technology can be used to create distributed copies of the data.
Users can then export the verified and watermarked version of their image for use wherever they want, and viewers can visit the imprinted URL to double-check it with Truepic’s database. Truepics can be used on dating sites like Tinder to prove this is what you really look like, on a home rental site like Airbnb to show people exactly what the place they’re staying looks like, on an ecommerce site like eBay to prove the condition of what you’re selling, or to submit a verified image of damage for an insurance claim.
Clients can pay a monthly fee to build Truepic’s lightweight Enterprise SDK into their apps so the whole capture, verification, and sharing process happens within their product. Truepic currently has a dozen beta customers for the SDK ranging from…