The Politecnico di Torino cybersecurity spinout has become the first investment for the Italian-government backed tech transfer fund VV3TT.

ToothPic, an Italy-based cybersecurity identification technology spinout from Politecnico di Torino, today closed a seed round of undisclosed size with capital from the Italian government-backed Vertis Venture 3 Tech Transfer (VV3TT) fund.

VV3TT is capitalised by Itatech, a program launched in January 2017 by national promotional institution Cassa depositi e prestiti and the EU-owned European Investment Fund to widen equity access for Italy’s tech transfer ecosystem.

While Itatech did not give an official figure for ToothPic’s round, news publication StartupItalia indicated it raised €300,000 ($348,000). ToothPic is Itatech’s first investment.

Founded in 2016, Toothpic has devised a user authentication system that allows clients to identify which camera has been used to take a given photograph by identifying unique imperfections imprinted from the camera’s sensors.

The technology can be used to verify that a smartphone is held by the legitimate owner, and to help forensic experts assign liability for images captured with illegal content or relevance to a crime.

ToothPic will use the capital to sustain the next phase of product development, according to company chief executive Giulio Coluccia, who also works as a research assistant at Politecnico di Torino’s Image Processing Lab.

Itatech also announced the formation of a new proof-of-concept program for Italy’s universities targeting so-called “industry 4.0”, innovations such as automation and internet-of-things with the ability to profoundly disrupt the industrial sector.

The as-yet unnamed program will be supported by national research network Nevtal, as well as investment firm Vertis and Venture Factory, Vertis’s commercialisation advisory arm, both of which are involved with managing VV3TT.

Nicola Redi, another partner at VV3TT, said: “Italy is a country with limited natural resources, but universities and research institutions could represent its oil and gas fields.

“Our proof-of-concept framework was created by a small joint task force made of universities representatives and ourselves, with a truly entrepreneurial – yet institutional – spirit.”