Laava adds Paul Vitali to its European team

Authentication and traceability specialist Laava has appointed brand protection industry veteran Paul Vitali as its new European vice president of business development.

Vitali (pictured above right, with Laava chief executive and co-founder Gavin Ger) has well over two decades of experience in the apparel, pharmaceutical and beverage industries and for the last four years has been head of Europe at publicly-listed brand protection company VerifyMe. He was due to start at Laava on June 1.

He is also managing partner at Zug, Switzerland-based Evolution Consultancy & Technology, which helps companies in multiple industrial sectors implement technology, blockchain, supply chain transparency, anti-counterfeit and anti-diversion initiatives.

Laava’s business was built around its Smart Fingerprint technology, an overt and smartphone-scannable security label that can verify product authenticity in the supply chain and has been used to protect products including Reid Fruits cherries from counterfeiting.

It has recently expanded its platform with the launch of Smart Logo and Smart QR technologies, covert, unclonable anti-copying components that are invisible to the naked eye and, as their names suggest, can be used to protect company logos and QR codes.