Sproxil, a startup that helps pharmaceutical companies and other businesses guard against counterfeit versions of their products, was chosen this week as the winner of IBM's Boston SmartCamp.
You can watch Sproxil founder and chief executive Ashifi Gogo pitch his company in the video below. Counterfeit medicine is a $75 billion problem, Gogo said. If a consumer is buying a bottle of medicine, they don't know if they're holding a real product from the company or a container of sugar pills with a fake label slapped on. And if the problem is bad enough, that can affect sales.
Sproxil creates unique, scratch-off labels for each product. When someone buys the medicine, they can send a text message containing the code on the label, and the company responds, telling the consumer that they're holding a real product or warning them off because it's fake. Sproxil says it has already distributed 700,000 labels in West Africa.
IBM's SmartCamps bring together five startups with entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors for a single day. Later this summer there will be events in Tel Aviv, London, Silicon Valley, and Paris. In each city, a single winner is selected, and they'll receive continued mentorship and the chance to travel to Dublin, Ireland this fall, where one will be chosen as "The World's Smartest Startup."
Don't miss MobileBeat 2010, VentureBeat's conference on the future of mobile. The theme: "The year of the superphone and who will profit." Now expanded to two days, MobileBeat 2010 will take place on July 12-13 at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Register now. Tickets are going quickly. For complete conference details, or to apply for the MobileBeat Startup Competition, click here.