July 8, 2019

In-Q-Tel, Inc. (IQT), the not-for-profit strategic investor that identifies and accelerates the delivery of innovative technology solutions to support the mission of the U.S. intelligence and defense agencies that keep our nation safe, M12, Microsoft’s corporate venture fund, and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the bank of the world’s most innovative companies and their investors, today announced Truepic as the winner of this year’s “Identity & Truth Tech” Discovery Event.

Jeffrey McGregor, CEO of Truepic, presented the company’s photo and video verification platform, which aims to accelerate business, foster a healthy civil society, and promote image transparency. Truepic’s patented “Controlled Capture” camera technology bolsters the value of authentic images by establishing provenance and verifying data integrity at the point of creation. To date, Truepic technology has been used to capture images in over 100 countries around the world, by top businesses, organizations, and everyday people looking to establish trust through verified imagery.

“The malicious use of technology and AI for visual deception is a problem of our time,” said Jeffrey McGregor, CEO of Truepic. “As humanity becomes more reliant on digital imagery, increased deception threatens societies and economies globally. Our team at Truepic is committed to bringing truth and transparency back to visual media, and we are thankful to the government, business, and technology leaders for sponsoring and recognizing Truepic, and many other excellent startups, in this great event.”

“Truth Tech is an important and growing focus area for entrepreneurs and investors,” said Barry O’Brien, Managing Director of Corporate Venture at Silicon Valley Bank. “We are delighted to see Truepic, an SVB client, take such a leading position in the market. We are proud to work with them and help them on their continued journey of success.”

Now in its ninth year, this annual event offers startups the opportunity to pitch their technology to intelligence and defense community representatives as well as investors and leading companies and organizations. Eleven startups were selected from more than 50 submissions to present their businesses to a panel of government and Fortune 500 executives including NVIDIA, Snap Inc., NBC Universal, LinkedIn, and Microsoft. The companies selected to participate in the event included AC Global Risk, Lyrebird AI, Synthesia, Truepic, Graphika, Fiddler Labs, Deeptrace, Onfido, Spectrum Labs Inc, Modulate, and Armorblox.

Confirming truth in technology is a growing need with the rise of deepfake images, audio, and video. Deepfake and deceptive technology can be applied to manipulate discourse and for other harmful purposes, which in turn has the potential to damage relationships, reputations, and undermine the provenance of truth. Because of the amplifying effect of social and other digital media, identifying truth from fake and manipulated content will become increasingly difficult.

“With the providence of truth under attack from AI altered content, the impressive set of VC-backed startups addressing this area is very timely and welcome,” said George Hoyem, Managing Director at IQT. “In the future, we will need companies and technologies like those presenting at this event to help us all determine what content is original and what has been altered, emphasizing the importance of Truth Tech as an emerging category of startup activity.”

About In-Q-Tel, Inc.

In-Q-Tel, Inc. (IQT) is the not-for-profit strategic investor that accelerates the development and delivery of cutting-edge technologies to U.S. government agencies that keep our nation safe. IQT was established in 1999 with a distinct mission: to identify and partner with startup companies developing innovative technologies that protect and preserve our nation’s security. Visit www.iqt.org for more information.

About Silicon Valley Bank

For more than 35 years, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) has helped innovative companies and their investors move bold ideas forward, fast. SVB provides targeted financial services and expertise through its offices in innovation centers around the world. With commercial, international and private banking services, SVB helps address the unique needs of innovators. Learn more at www.svb.com.

About M12

As the corporate venture arm for Microsoft, M12 (formerly Microsoft Ventures) invests in enterprise software companies in the Series A through C funding stage with a focus on big data & analytics, business SaaS, cloud infrastructure, machine learning & artificial intelligence, productivity and security. As part of its value-add to portfolio companies, M12 offers unique access to strategic go-to-market resources and relationships globally. The Company has offices in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, London and Tel Aviv. https://m12.vc.