Starling Lab
Starling Lab is a non-profit academic research center co-founded by Stanford and USC Shoah Foundation that develops cryptographic and decentralized-web tools to establish authenticity of digital records, serving journalists, historians, legal practitioners, and archivists.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2018
- HeadquartersStanford, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Starling Lab does
Starling Lab is a non-profit academic research center co-founded in October 2018 by Stanford University's Department of Electrical Engineering and the USC Shoah Foundation, formally launched in June 2021 to develop tools and methodologies for establishing trust in the authenticity of digital records. Its core technology is the Starling Framework—a three-step methodology (Capture, Store, Verify) that uses cryptographic hashing, secure-enclave signing, and decentralized web protocols (IPFS, Filecoin, blockchain) to bind authenticity metadata at the moment of creation, preserve assets in tamper-evident distributed storage, and surface verifiable audit trails. The lab organizes its work around four practice areas—Journalism Lab, History Lab, Law Lab, and Spatial Lab—and supports an annual Journalism Fellowship program (grants up to $20,000), a free Archive Accelerator bootcamp for community archivists, and a Stanford course (EE292J, "Designing for Authenticity").
Starling Lab firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Starling Lab
- Legal name
- Starling Lab
- Website
- https://starlinglab.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2018
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Starling Lab is a non-profit academic research center co-founded by Stanford and USC Shoah Foundation that develops cryptographic and decentralized-web tools to establish authenticity of digital records, serving journalists, historians, legal practitioners, and archivists.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Starling Lab is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Stanford
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Starling Lab business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Research Grants and Sponsored Research: Funded by support from Stanford and USC, a multi-year sponsored research agreement from Protocol Labs and the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, alongside non-profit donor-advised fund from Ampathey and the IOG Research Hub. Initial funds used to hire staff, support independent fellowships, and develop prototypes.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Journalism Fellowship Grant |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Starling Lab product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Starling Lab is an academic research center that prototypes tools and principles to build trust in the authenticity of digital records. The lab develops the Starling Framework (Capture, Store, Verify), a cryptographic methodology for authenticating digital assets, and produces open-source prototypes covering authenticated camera capture, distributed storage, timestamp verification, and document redaction. It operates four practice labs (Journalism, History, Law, Spatial) and runs fellowship and archive accelerator programs serving journalists, historians, legal practitioners, and archivists.
Product overview
Starling Lab operates as an academic research center co-founded by Stanford University and USC Shoah Foundation, offering a unified methodology through the Starling Framework (Capture, Store, Verify) and Authenticity by Design principles. The organization is structured around four practice labs—Journalism Lab, History Lab, Law Lab, and Spatial Lab—each applying the core framework to different domains. Supporting programs include the Archive Accelerator (Web3 training bootcamp) and Journalism Fellowships (grants up to $20,000). The product portfolio includes over 15 distinct prototypes covering authenticated camera capture, web archiving, distributed storage, document redaction, timestamp verification, and spatial media authenticity tools. Educational offerings include Stanford course EE292J on Authenticity by Design.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Journalism Lab: Lab focused on building public trust in news media through authenticity and provenance tools
- History Lab
- Law Lab
- Spatial Lab
- Project Dokaz
Products and services
- Starling Framework Foundational three-step methodology (Capture, Store, Verify) for establishing trust in digital records through cryptographic authentication and decentralized storage. Open-source methodology applicable across journalism, history, law, and spatial domains.
- Authenticity by Design Set of strategies and organizational principles applied when using the Starling Framework, prioritizing integrity, privacy, verifiability, persistence, and accountability throughout each step of the digital asset lifecycle.
- Journalism Lab Program bringing together journalists and engineers to prototype new ways to restore news readers' trust in digital media through applied cryptography and decentralized systems for content authenticity.
- History Lab Initiative ensuring that important testimonies and stories of human history are preserved through cryptographic archives and decentralized web technologies, protecting against loss, manipulation, or deepfakes.
- Law Lab Program supporting legal practitioners and human rights defenders in recording and investigating reliable digital evidence, including submitting documentation to ICC and UN agencies.
- Spatial Lab Research initiative exploring how spatial intelligence (NeRFs, Gaussian Splatting, 3D reconstruction) can build trust in journalism, law, and history in the post-photographic age.
- Archive Accelerator Free multi-day bootcamp offering non-technical audiences introduction to Web3 storage technologies, covering data properties, lifecycle, access, privacy, authentication, and decentralized storage adoption.
- Journalism Fellowships Fellowship program providing grants up to $20,000, prototype development support, and training on emerging verification technologies for journalists pursuing investigative projects.
- Project Dokaz Collaborative civil society project leveraging decentralized technologies to document and preserve war crimes committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including ICC Article 15 complaints.
- Verified Photo Newswire (Canon-Reuters-Starling) Prototype End-to-end prototype for creating immutable, authenticated photos from point of capture for newswire usage, combining Canon camera firmware, Fotoware CMS, ProvenDB, and Hedera blockchain integration.
Quantifiable outcome
- First cryptographic archive for war crimes investigation accepted by ICC
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Starling Lab
Customer profileNamed customers10 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Starling Lab technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration9 records
Feature10 records
Starling Lab partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
23 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.
- ReuterscoreFirst real-world implementation of C2PA standard. Reuters photographers' images authenticated using Canon cameras with Starling tools at point of capture, creating immutable chain of trust from field to publication.
- CanoncoreIndustry partnership embedding authentication technology into Canon camera firmware. Enables cryptographic signing of photos at capture using secure enclave technology.
- Stanford University Department of Electrical EngineeringcoreCo-founder of Starling Lab. Stanford's School of Engineering provides academic leadership, faculty supervision, and research infrastructure. Houses the EE292J 'Authenticity by Design' course and Stanford Compression Forum collaborations.
- USC Shoah FoundationcoreCo-founder of Starling Lab. Provides access to Visual History Archive with 55,000+ testimonies. USC Shoah Foundation's mission to preserve Holocaust survivor testimonies aligns with Starling's preservation goals.
- Rolling StonecorePublished first-of-its-kind cryptographic archive for war crimes investigation. 'The DJ and the War Crimes' project nominated for Emmy Award and won multiple journalism and design awards.
- Hala SystemscorePrimary partner in Project Dokaz Ukraine coalition. Developed early warning systems for conflict zones. Joint legal methodology recognized by UN Human Rights Council.
- Guardian ProjectmajorDeveloped secure camera tools for crowdsourcing evidence in conflict zones. Collaboration on field photography capture and authentication for Ukraine war crimes documentation.
- DFRLab (Digital Forensic Research Lab)majorAtlantic Council's DFRLab collaborates on OSINT verification and preservation of weaponized narratives. Starling archived 10,000 web pages supporting DFRLab investigations.
- Internet ArchivemajorCollaboration on web archiving for accountability purposes. Joint legal roundtable on best practices for admissible web archives. Preserves digital evidence for long-term accessibility.
- WebrecordermajorTechnical collaboration on high-fidelity web archiving for legal contexts. Presented at IIPC Web Archiving Conference on web archiving for accountability.
- ProofModemajorIntegration of ProofMode authentication data into secure camera applications. Built easy-to-deploy secure camera for crowdsourcing evidence with cryptographic proof of location and time.
- The Reckoning ProjectmajorCollaboration on Ukraine-wide database of war crimes. User research with War Crimes Unit aiming to aggregate regional cases for international accountability.
- WITNESSmajorHuman rights video advocacy organization working on authentic media for accountability. Guest lectures in Stanford courses on authenticity and human rights applications.
- Fénix FoundationmajorCo-hosted Gen AI & Evidence Roundtable in The Hague to discuss guidelines for digital evidence in the age of Generative AI.
- Global Justice AdvisorsmajorLegal advisory on international criminal justice proceedings. Co-led legal roundtable on best practices for admissible web archives. Submitted joint filings to UN Commission of Inquiry.
- Harvard University Library Innovation LabmajorCollaboration on web archiving standards for evidentiary purposes. OSINT evidence and web archive preservation research.
- International Criminal CourtcoreSubmitted Article 15 complaint related to Kharkiv schools destruction. Filed investigations to UN agencies regarding children's rights breaches. Pioneering work on digital evidence admissibility.
- Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI)coreFoundational partner in establishing digital trust standards. Early advisors who contributed to first whitepaper and C2PA technical standard development.
- C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity)coreOpen technical standard addressing misinformation by certifying source and history of digital content. Starling team advised on first whitepaper and contributed directly to writing the standard.
- Inner TemplemajorLondon barristers' chambers. Starling participated as expert witness in training for barristers on cross-examination of C2PA and OSINT evidence.
- Investigative CommonsminorCommunity organization for investigative journalists and researchers.
- AirwarsminorCollaborated on 'Sanctions, Scams, and Deepfakes' investigation including forensic preservation of 9,000+ web pages and Telegram posts for cross-border investigation.
- NORSARminorNorwegian research institute. Joint submission to UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine including novel evidence bases.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Starling Lab competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- WITNESS: WITNESS is a human rights video advocacy organization that partners with Starling on authentic media for accountability and guest lectures at Stanford — adjacent in mission, focusing on training rather than technical tools.
Direct peers
- ProofMode: ProofMode creates cryptographic proof of location, time, and authenticity for mobile photos and videos used by activists and journalists. It is also a direct technology integration partner with Starling Lab, embedded inside Signal Messenger.
- TruePic: Truepic provides cryptographic photo and video authentication technology for news, insurance, and legal use cases, including secure enclave signing at capture — directly comparable to Starling's Authenticated Camera Capture prototype and C2PA-aligned approach.
- Amber Authenticate: Amber Authenticate offers blockchain-anchored content provenance and tamper detection for media organizations, competing in the same content authenticity and C2PA-aligned tooling space as Starling Lab.
- DFRLab (Atlantic Council): DFRLab performs OSINT verification and narrative analysis; it is a documented Starling partner with 10,000+ archived web pages supporting joint investigations. Closely comparable in mission around digital evidence and open-source investigation.
- Webrecorder: Webrecorder builds high-fidelity web archiving tools for evidentiary and legal contexts; it is a documented technology integration partner with Starling on authenticated web archives for accountability.
- Hala Systems: Hala Systems builds early-warning and conflict-zone monitoring tools; its joint legal methodology with Starling was recognized by the UN Human Rights Council as emerging good practice in Ukraine accountability efforts.
Broad incumbents
- Protocol Labs: Protocol Labs develops IPFS and Filecoin — the decentralized web protocols that Starling's storage architecture relies on, and its primary sponsor. Comparable as a broader decentralized-web incumbent that funds and hosts Starling's research.
- Content Authenticity Initiative (Adobe-led): Adobe-led industry initiative driving C2PA adoption with backing from Microsoft, BBC, and others. Starling Lab is a foundational partner in CAI but Adobe operates the broader commercial standard, making it the dominant incumbent in the same standards ecosystem.
- Internet Archive: Internet Archive is a large-scale web and media preservation organization partnering with Starling on archival best practices. It operates as a broader incumbent in digital preservation that overlaps with Starling's History Lab mission.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Starling Lab social profiles
Digital presenceStarling Lab financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Starling Lab leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles13 records
Starling Lab funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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Starling Lab M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
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Frequently asked questions about Starling Lab
What does Starling Lab do?
Starling Lab is an academic research center that prototypes tools and principles to build trust in the authenticity of digital records. The lab develops the Starling Framework (Capture, Store, Verify), a cryptographic methodology for authenticating digital assets, and produces open-source prototypes covering authenticated camera capture, distributed storage, timestamp verification, and document redaction. It operates four practice labs (Journalism, History, Law, Spatial) and runs fellowship and archive accelerator programs serving journalists, historians, legal practitioners, and archivists.
Is Starling Lab a public or private company?
Starling Lab is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Starling Lab founded?
Starling Lab was founded in 2018. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Starling Lab based?
Starling Lab is headquartered in Stanford, United States, in the North America region.
How does Starling Lab make money?
One revenue line is on record: research Grants and Sponsored Research.
Who are Starling Lab's main competitors?
WITNESS is listed as an others. Direct peers are ProofMode, TruePic, Amber Authenticate, DFRLab (Atlantic Council), Webrecorder and Hala Systems. Broad incumbents are Protocol Labs, Content Authenticity Initiative (Adobe-led) and Internet Archive.
Does Starling Lab have an API?
No public API is recorded for Starling Lab.