SneakPeek

SneakPeek is a North Carolina-based company applying artificial intelligence to authentication of sneakers in the second-hand resale market. Its platform is designed to let a customer upload a series of images of a pair of shoes and receive instant feedback on authenticity, using models trained to detect deficiencies and signs of counterfeiting. The company markets the service as reducing authentication time and transaction lead time, and pairs it with tracking tools intended to maintain visibility of authenticated goods across their lifespan and across a supply chain.

After a pair of shoes passes authentication, SneakPeek installs a near-field communication (NFC) chip in each shoe. When a chipped sneaker later arrives at an enterprise authentication facility, staff can scan the chip — a tap interaction comparable to Apple Pay — instead of sending the item through the full authentication process again. The founders describe the chip as the main point of differentiation from competing authentication services, which they say depend on repeat authentication revenue.

Alongside the enterprise product, SneakPeek Technologies Inc. publishes a free iPhone app, "SneakPeek - AI," in the App Store's Shopping category. The app uses detection technology to identify a sneaker's brand and model and its current market value, lets users catalogue a collection, receive updates on fluctuating market values, and transfer ownership. The company has also described plans for detection and portfolio features that show users their authenticated shoes and let them photograph shoes they encounter in order to find where to buy them, monetized through affiliate fees on resulting purchases. Longer term, the founders have said they intend to extend beyond sneakers into other collectibles such as toys, trading cards and memorabilia.

Founding story

Co-founders Michael Truesdale and Justin Kelly grew up in the same Raleigh, North Carolina neighborhood. The idea originated in 2016, when Truesdale was studying abroad in China and Kelly was working there; visiting local knockoff markets, they were struck by the volume and production scale of counterfeit sneakers. Both founders had themselves bought counterfeits and found no reliable way to authenticate items that can cost hundreds of dollars. Both work on SneakPeek full-time and bootstrapped the company for its first nine months.

Business model

SneakPeek operates primarily on a B2B model, selling authentication capacity to enterprises and resale operations that process large volumes of sneakers. Customers upload a series of images of a shoe and receive instant feedback on its authenticity; the founders have said they eventually intend to replace image uploads with video. Following authentication, SneakPeek installs an NFC chip in the shoe so that any subsequent handler can confirm the item by tapping it rather than repeating the full authentication workflow. A consumer-facing iPhone app extends the same detection technology to individual collectors for sneaker identification, market-value tracking, collection management and ownership transfer.

Revenue comes from the authentication process itself and from NFC chip installations. The company has also described affiliate fees earned when a user purchases a pair of shoes through a site they were directed to by SneakPeek's detection and portfolio features.

Traction

As of February 2024, SneakPeek had three customers — smaller boutiques and shops — all in free trial phases, and had held initial conversations with enterprises such as eBay. Non-dilutive funding to that point consisted of a $20,000 pitch-competition prize and a $5,000 university grant. Its iPhone app holds a 5.0 average from two ratings.

Latest developments

As of February 2024 the company had three customers, all smaller boutiques and shops in a free trial phase, which the founders said helped surface bugs and areas for improvement. Stated near-term goals were fixing bugs, improving scalability, raising funds and securing a pilot by the end of the second quarter of 2024, before pursuing larger enterprises and converting trial users into paying customers. The company's iPhone app continued to receive updates through October 2024.