UK-based tech company, Lightmark, is launching technology that turns ordinary light at the moment of capture into an “unforgeable proof of origin, enabling secure authentication and tracing of video.”

Lightmark says the new tech adds an unforgeable and invisible “fingerprint of light” to regular light sources inside the room as a video is being recorded, “making it possible to prove, beyond doubt, where and when that footage was captured.”

Lightmark says that tools including metadata standards (C2PA), AI detectors, and watermarking, “all try to verify content after it has been made” but “Lightmark proves authenticity from the moment of capture. The technology adjusts the lighting in a room, invisibly to anyone in it, so every camera that films picks up a unique signal automatically, even in smartphone recordings. Software can later read the signal to confirm exactly where and when the footage was recorded. The fingerprint cannot be added after the fact, or stripped by filters or compression, or fabricated by AI.

“I am certain we’ve got a real working solution to one of the biggest issues in the age of digital communication and media. We can now create a space where video footage can be trusted beyond any doubt. I hope it can be part of creating a more reliable and transparent digital world,” says founder and inventor Daniel Oblitas Garafulic.

Use cases span live-broadcast piracy, defence and intelligence, public-sector authenticity, and major-studio IP protection, four sectors facing rising deepfake exposure ahead of the EU AI Act’s 2 August 2026 transparency deadline.

Complementary research published at SIGGRAPH 2025 by Cornell University validated the core physics behind light-based video authentication. Lightmark is the first to turn that science into a commercial product. The technology is protected by a UK patent application filed in May 2025 covering 15 core claims, with international PCT filings in flight.

“The problem today is that we try to determine the truth after the fact. We start at the moment the content is created,” says Oblitas Garafulic.

Lightmark is raising approximately £1.5 million to take it to its first paying customers and set up a larger funding round next year. Development to date has been funded by Danish venture firm Bifrost Defence, which acts as the company’s development and implementation partner, and Innovate UK has selected the company for its Global Growth Programme.

“High-security environments need security infrastructure built into the room itself. Lightmark turns the lighting in a Ministry of Defence facility, an R&D lab, or a command centre into a tamper-proof signature on every video filmed inside it. Authentic recordings are provable, and any leak is traceable to its source,” says Nicholas MacGowan, Managing Director at Bifrost Defence.

Bifrost Defence is the defence and security arm of Copenhagen-based Bifrost Studios, a venture studio founded by experienced investors and venture builders Thorbjørn Rønje and Nicolai Rasmussen.