A local Stony Brook-based company, Genamint, has just hit it out of the park after catching the attention of baseball card collectors around the country. The startup has just been endorsed by Mets owner, Steven Cohen. Known for its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven approach to verify and value collectables, Genamint was recently bought by Collectors Universe on April 13th. 
The Founder and CEO of Genamint, Kevin Lenane, is a Biotechnology Mentor here at Stony Brook University. The Long Island native was introduced to the institution by Larry Weber, one of the university’s Business Development & Venture Capital Advisors. Since landing the job, Lenane helps with the traditional technology side of biotechnology, and is finding mentoring to be “a great experience,” he says.
However, this is a small job for this young, up-and-coming CEO. Lenane has his sights set on simplifying the collectors’ experience. This is where Genamint steps up to bat. According to Lenane, Genamint is an application that uses machine learning to appraise and evaluate collectables.
With the support of Steve Cohen, Genamint has gained traction for its ability to check the condition of baseball cards. However, Genamint can also evaluate the condition, authenticity and value of sports cards, on top of coins, and possibly sneakers.
This impressive, faceted technology is made possible through AI. Machine learning is the leading powerhouse of this application. Genamint is embedded with a wide variety of machine learning techniques such as reinforcement learning, convolutional neural networks, and the random forest algorithm.
“Different branches of machine learning are applied to each different subgrade of what we’re evaluating,” says Lenane.
Computer vision (CV) is another essential component of Genamint. Open CV is the foundation of the preprocessing of collectable images. This technology aptly realigns the image, and labels the object in the image.
Machine learning and computer vision are what makes Genamint such a hit. It caught the attention of those at Collectors Universe in Santa Anna, California, a renowned authenticator of collectable items such as sports memorabilia, autographs, coins, and trading cards. Genamint has made its way into the Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) sector of Collectors Universe. Therefore, “Genamint technology is going to be integrated into the PSA product,” says Lenane.
After revolutionizing the collectors’ market, Kevin Lenane now works with the product management team at PSA.
It is clear that this Stony Brook figure has hit a home run with Genamint, all due to AI.
-Alyssa Dey, Communications Assistant