Zhang Yang

    nicolezyyy@163.com

    A SHENZHEN-BASED startup co-founded by expatriates and Chinese will receive a 500,000 yuan (US$75,383) grant from the city government in recognition of the company’s anti-counterfeit technology.

    “As far as I know it’s the first time the government actually gives this grant to an anti-counterfeit company,” said Hugo Garcia-Cotte. The 28-year-old is one of the five co-founders — three of whom are from France and two from China — of Cypheme, founded two years ago.

    According to Garcia-Cotte, Cypheme’s technology is able to use a smartphone camera to analyze the microstructure of paper. In other words, it can identify the unique fingerprint of a product’s paper label by using machine-learning methods and help people distinguish genuines from counterfeits. “That technology is available nowhere else in the world,” Garcia-Cotte told the Shenzhen Daily in a previous interview.

    Garcia-Cotte said that the startup had been initially based in Silicon Valley in the United States, and they moved to Shenzhen last year. “It was a bold decision,” he said, “but we thought there are lots of counterfeits in China, so the companies who suffer the most should be Chinese companies.”

    He said that one big question concerned the team: does the Chinese Government support or fight against counterfeits? “I guess we have our answer. For us, this grant is a strong political signal that the Chinese Government hates counterfeits as much as we do,” he said.

    According to Garcia-Cotte, the grant will be part of a larger fund that they are raising at the moment. They will use the fund to expand their business operations in China, and build a larger team in Shenzhen that will reach more brands.

    Garcia-Cotte said that the company’s clients are mostly foreign brands who sell products in China. “We want people to feel safe about what they’re buying,” he said.

    Cypheme is one of the 142 startups that will receive financial support from the city government through a grant program, according to a public notice recently published on the official website of the city’s science and technology innovation commission.

    The list of the 142 startups was made public for the public to report any wrongdoings that may lead to the cancellation of a grant. These startups will receive the grants if no problems are reported between Aug. 12 and 22.

    All these companies are based in Shenzhen and engaged in technological research and development, and 10 of them will be offered the maximum subsidy of 600,000 yuan. Another 80 startups, including Cypheme, will each receive a subsidy of 500,000 yuan, while the remaining 52 projects will each be granted 400,000 yuan.

    The grant program has demonstrated the city’s consistent determination to bolster startups. In June, the city government earmarked 111 million yuan to subsidize 133 different maker projects, 34 maker centers, 14 maker service platforms and two technology incubators in Shenzhen, according to previous media reports.