April 2026 Venture launch
Realxreal.ai launches a new layer of human trust.
A 2025–26 Innovation Challenge finalist is taking on a defining question of the AI era: how do we know who is really on the other end?
As deepfakes, voice clones and impersonation scams make digital communication harder to trust, Realxreal.ai is building a new way to answer a simple question: is this person really who they say they are?
Authentication for people
Realxreal.ai describes its product as multi-factor authentication for people. Rather than asking users to rely on a password, a phone number or an after-the-fact deepfake detector, the mobile app helps trusted contacts verify each other through shared memories only the real people in the relationship would know.
The approach is designed to work before a call, message or video chat begins. Using cryptography, biometrics and the company’s Doppelgänger Protocol™, the app aims to give people a private, device-first way to confirm identity when it matters most. Contacts and private keys stay on the user’s phone, not on a central server.
From finalist to launch
Realxreal.ai was a 2025–26 Regis Innovation Challenge finalist, bringing an urgent problem into the Challenge community: how can people protect themselves when what they see and hear online can be convincingly fabricated? The team used the experience to refine the story behind the product, test how it could reach people and build the relationships needed for a public launch.
In mid-April 2026, the company announced its launch and began welcoming its first mobile-app users. The moment marked an important transition from an idea presented on stage to a product entering the hands of a real community.
Growth rooted in community
Founder and CEO Johnathan Bateman brought Jennifer Maes onto the team as its student member. Jennifer now serves as Head of Growth & Community, leading marketing and helping translate the venture’s technical mission into a clear, approachable presence for users and the Denver startup community.
“Jennifer's giftedness in marketing and event planning brought stability and clarity to our GTM strategy. She helped realxreal execute a flawless launch party, gain our first mobile app users, and build trust with the Denver startup community.”— Johnathan Bateman, Founder and CEO
Her work shows what can happen when student talent is treated as meaningful leadership: a founder’s vision gains the focus, momentum and local connection needed to carry it forward.
Trust for the next era of communication
Realxreal.ai is built around the belief that people should not have to become security experts to protect the relationships that matter to them. Its goal is not simply to detect a fake after the fact, but to create a stronger human layer of trust before a bad actor can take advantage of uncertainty.
For the Innovation Challenge community, the venture is a reminder that meaningful innovation can start with a problem that feels personal and become a tool with much wider relevance. As the team grows, Realxreal.ai carries the work of a Regis finalist into a conversation that reaches far beyond campus.