Smartrac Technology Group has announced that it has acquired brand protection specialist eApeiron Solutions. The acquisition will allow Smartrac to further expand its portfolio of proven RFID-based IoT solutions for enhanced customer experience and product authentication, which is already successfully applied in billions of products across all market segments.

The company’s offering to enable a global product digitization will now be complemented by new, additional security layers for any product or product packaging, as well as for product raw materials or components.

Focused on fighting counterfeiting and product diversion based on visible, invisible or forensically undetectable materials in combination with proprietary readers and cloud-based brand protection services, eApeiron brings in its comprehensive suite of secure technologies tailored for retail and industrial applications, as well as e-commerce. These multi-layer solutions comprise security labels including a sophisticated tagging system, offering a unique signature profile for consumer authentication and identifying and tracking products throughout the entire supply chain. These globally tested technologies have been successfully deployed in billions of products over the last 10 years.

Backed by a comprehensive suite of former Kodak patents, expertise in marker material, optical recognition and printing, combined with comprehensive application know-how across multiple industries, eApeiron has offices, research and production facilities in Miami, Florida and Rochester, NY.

“eApeiron’s technology portfolio fits perfectly with Smartrac’s existing brand protection solutions,” says Christian Uhl, CEO of Smartrac. “We are now able to meet any customer and market demand and serve any possible use case with our secure, multi-layer technologies, and efficiently support all our customers to combat both counterfeiting and diversion issues. Thanks to our IoT platform Smart Cosmos, we have the capability to create unique digital identifiers for any branded product, and to manage these digital identities in a cloud-based system. Branded product manufacturers, retailers and consumers alike have now an even greater range of possibilities than ever before to easily ensure and confirm a product’s authenticity in a highly secure way.”

“We are very happy about joining Smartrac, as this transaction opens excellent new possibilities for all our customers worldwide. Combining different technologies and areas of expertise with one common goal – offering best-in-class brand protection solutions for all imaginable customer and market requirements – will drive a wave of innovation for brand owners and consumers around the world,” says Charles Fernandez, president and CEO of eApeiron, who has now joined the Smartrac Supervisory Board as a result of the transaction.

Further details of the transaction will not be disclosed.