Red Points raises $12 million to help reduce online piracy and counterfeits

Barcelona’s Red Points has landed $12 million in new funding. The Series B round was led by Northzone with participation from Mangrove Capital Partners and Sabadell Venture Capital.

Red Points develops a SaaS-based product for detecting content and goods that infringes on intellectual property and issuing takedown requests. The software uses keyword monitoring, image recognition, and machine learning to detect infringing content.

The company said that trade in counterfeit goods accounts for 2.5% of global trade, citing 2015 figures from the OECD. Digital avenues have only exacerbated this problem, it added.

“We currently remove more than 200,000 incidents of illegal products and content every month for brands and media companies on marketplaces, social apps and websites - with an efficiency rate of 96%,” said CEO Laura Urquizu (pictured, centre), adding that the startup has experienced an annual growth rate of 350%, with 300 clients globally.

The bulk of these clients are in Europe and the US. With the new funding, Red Points will expand its presence in the US by opening a New York office next month.

“With this new funding round, we will expand our global business operations in the US and Europe. Red Points is changing the game in online IP protection,” added Urquizo. “We want to enable any brand, anywhere in the world, to stop the risk of piracy or counterfeiting damaging their consumers and reputation.”

Jessica Schultz of lead investor Northzone said that Red Pints is addressing a “clear gap” in the market for IP infringing detection technology.

“Thanks to their SaaS model and a product that is highly effective and at the leading edge of innovation, we believe they have a real competitive advantage compared to service-led offerings. Fundamentally, this is about empowering brand owners to protect what’s rightfully theirs,” she said.

The company was founded by Josep Coll (pictured, left) and David Casellas (pictured, right).

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