Clarity Core verifies a returned item without opening the box. It X-rays the sealed package, compares what's inside with the item's enrolled product profile, and flags counterfeits, swaps, missing parts and damage in about three seconds, with an associate making the final call. I co-founded Clarity Systems with Andy Ruben and Sender Shamiss and set its architecture and vision, and together our team brought it to life, from the system to the go-to-market to every surface the company shows the world. Within its first year Clarity signed major national retailers, partnered with ReturnPro and raised a $4.4 million seed round led by LMnT Ventures.
Core in a returns center, end to end.
Returns fraud cost retailers an estimated $103 billion in 2024.
More than 15% of all returned merchandise was fraudulent.
Appriss Retail and Deloitte
02
The problem
You can't trust the box.
Retail still runs on trust at exactly the wrong moment: the return. An item comes back over the counter or onto the dock, and someone has to decide, in seconds, whether what's inside is what left.
A photo shows the outside. A scale shows the weight. An associate sees what the box lets them see. None of them see structure, and structure is where professional fraud hides: a counterfeit with the right logo, a bundle missing its cable, a brick in a resealed box.
“Retail fraud has become a professional industry, run at scale against the returns counter and the receiving dock.”
Andy Ruben, Co-founder and CEO
03
How Core sees
One scan, four kinds of fraud.
Core pairs diagnostic-grade X-ray imaging with computer vision and Clarity's patented classification models. The scan reads the item's internal structure, the one signal a fraudster can't fake from the outside, and checks it against the profile the item was enrolled with.
That single read answers four questions at once: is it the real item, is it all there, is it intact, and has anything been swapped or resealed. Pick a case to see which check it trips.
~3s · box never opened
IdentityInternal structure matches the enrolled signatureStructure does not match the enrolled reference
ContentsEvery accessory, cable and component presentCharging cable missing from the bundle
ConditionNothing broken, non-functional or wornFracture inside the housing
PackagingNo swaps, reseals or altered barcodesInner packaging resealed
An associate makes the final call. Readout illustrative.
A return Core verifies.A return Core flags, its scan side by side with the reference.
Not a closer look. A look inside.
04
Enroll once, verify forever
The catalog is the hard part.
Verification at retail scale lives or dies on the catalog: every SKU a retailer sells has to be recognizable. Core's answer is enrollment. An item is captured once, and from then on Clarity recognizes it every time it appears again, at any return point, without retraining or rework.
01
Enroll
Capture the item once, at intake or onboarding, and create a durable reference that follows it through every future return.
02
Scan
Each return is X-rayed at the point of contact, without opening the box or interrupting the flow.
03
Verify
Core confirms a match, or flags an incomplete or swapped item, and the decision is made on the spot.
Enrolling an item in Core.
05
Where it runs
Wherever returns happen.
Core turns the point of contact into a point of certainty, in two places. In return centers it sits in the intake flow and verifies items as they enter, at distribution-center pace. At the store it sits at the returns counter and gives an item-level decision without slowing the associate or the customer.
Return centers Verifies items as they enter the flow.Retail stores Decisions at the counter, without slowing the line.
ReturnPro
In February 2026 ReturnPro announced it would deploy Clarity across its North American returns centers, which process more than 20 million units a year, starting with electronics, luxury goods and other high-value categories.
06
Building the company
From the idea out, together.
Clarity started from one conviction: the return is retail's blind spot, and it can be made legible. I set the architecture and vision around it, and we built the company together: the system, the go-to-market strategy and the way Clarity explains itself to retailers, partners and investors.
2025Clarity Systems founded
Co-founded with Andy Ruben and Sender Shamiss.
Year oneNational retailers signed
Major national retailers signed for returns and receiving operations.
Feb 2026ReturnPro partnership
Core heads into ReturnPro's North American returns centers.
Aug 2026$4.4M seed
Led by LMnT Ventures, with Regeneration VC, Humba Ventures and Massive Technology Ventures.
“This isn't AI theory, it's already happening on Clarity systems.”
Jeff Miller, Founder and Managing Partner, LMnT Ventures
07
Every surface
Make the invisible readable at a glance.
We designed every surface the company shows the world together, down to the copy on the site. The design problem mirrors the product: take something no one can see and let anyone read it in a glance. The site leads with the cost of the problem, lets a retailer run their own numbers through a fraud calculator, and walks through what Core catches and where it runs before asking for anything.
claritysystems.ai. The cost of returns fraud, a calculator for what a retailer keeps, and Core's capabilities, deployments and process.
~3s · box never opened 
