Harvard Law to AI: MarqVision lands $48M to combat brand abuse

When Mark Lee was a instrumentality pupil astatine Harvard, a trademark people exposed him to the staggering standard of counterfeiting, an illicit manufacture worthy much than $3 trillion annually, and acceptable him connected an unexpected way to entrepreneurship.

“I was ever broadly funny successful exertion and startups, but I ne'er truly thought I’d beryllium an entrepreneur. I assumed I was acceptable to go a lawyer; astir of my household members are lawyers, and practicing instrumentality felt similar a earthy path,” Lee said successful an exclusive interrogation with TechCrunch. But erstwhile helium got to Harvard Law, the acquisition wasn’t rather what helium expected, Lee said, adding that helium began to question whether a vocation arsenic a firm lawyer was the close fit.

“So I started exploring antithetic ideas. One day, I took a trademark people and learned that counterfeiting is the world’s largest transgression enterprise, $3 trillion successful counterfeit products traded each year, astir 8% of planetary commerce. What struck maine was that during COVID, arsenic everything was moving online, this already monolithic marketplace was increasing 20% a year, fueled by marketplaces and societal media,” Lee continued. “I saw it arsenic a cosmopolitan problem—and 1 that could beryllium solved with the exertion I was passionate astir astatine the time: machine vision.”

That penetration became the effect for MarqVision, the institution helium aboriginal co-founded successful 2021. The sanction itself reflects its origins: “Marq” from trademark, and “Vision” from machine vision. The ngo was straightforward but ambitious: harness AI-powered machine imaginativeness to combat counterfeiting and trademark infringement connected a planetary scale.

Fast guardant to 2025 and the LA-headquartered AI startup has closed a $48 cardinal Series B round, bringing its full superior raised to astir $90 million.

Roughly fractional of the caller superior volition spell toward expanding its AI and engineering teams to accelerate automation and integrate generative AI crossed its merchandise suite. Another $10 cardinal is earmarked for making the level enterprise-ready arsenic the institution moves upmarket to people larger brands, portion an further $10 cardinal volition money determination expansion. Already progressive successful the U.S., Korea, China, and Europe, MarqVision is present entering Japan, highlighting the borderless quality of IP instrumentality and the company’s propulsion to standard globally.

The financing was led by Peak XV Partners — formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA — with information from Salesforce Ventures, HSG (formerly Sequoia China), Coral Capital, and Michael Seibel, spouse emeritus astatine Y Combinator. Returning backers, including YC, Altos Ventures, and Atinum Investment, besides joined the round.

“Increasingly, top-tier investors are looking for exertion companies that leverage AI not conscionable to heighten productivity, but to fundamentally alteration work delivery,” Lee explained. “AI is expanding the full addressable marketplace for bundle from ratio tools into the execution of the enactment itself — unlocking a marketplace accidental of implicit $10 trillion. While galore early-stage companies are experimenting with AI to disrupt labor-intensive work industries, precise fewer person reached the aboriginal maturation signifier with the standard and traction.”

MarqVision serves much than 350 customers worldwide crossed industries ranging from manner and luxury to gaming, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, automotive, and user electronics. The startup reached $1 cardinal successful yearly recurring gross wrong 8 months, $10 cardinal successful 3 years, and precocious crossed $20 cardinal aft 4 years, doubling annually on the way.

“Our extremity is $100M ARR by mid-2027,” Lee said. “Growth could person been faster, but we prioritized 2 things: delivering the champion lawsuit acquisition and gathering a scalable AI-driven foundation. As a managed service, we tin monetize galore offerings, but everything ties backmost to 1 halfway promise—helping planetary brands power their integer beingness and turn revenue.”

Once considered an unappealing class successful technology, “services” is being redefined by AI, which brings software-like scalability and efficiency. This displacement has fueled capitalist interest, with Peak XV, HSG, and Salesforce Ventures backing the company’s vision. The emergence of ample connection models has reframed its positioning from a “software institution with humans successful the loop” to a person successful the emerging AI-led services space, drafting beardown contention successful its latest backing round.

MarqVision started retired warring counterfeits, utilizing AI to spot and region fake products online. As the exertion advanced, the startup shifted its absorption toward helping brands straight retrieve mislaid revenue. Today, galore clients study a astir 5% boost successful sales, making the level invaluable not conscionable to ineligible teams but besides to go-to-market organizations tracking gross impact, according to Lee.

When Lee archetypal pitched MarqVision, helium envisioned a $5 cardinal bundle company, selling $50,000 tools to 10,000 IP teams worldwide. But YC spouse Michael Seibel urged him to deliberation bigger — beyond bundle — by reimagining however IP and marque professionals work. MarqVision has since expanded into end-to-end managed services, an accidental Lee present believes is 100 times larger than his archetypal plan.

Brand extortion typically involves detecting and removing infringements similar counterfeits and impersonations, portion marque power goes further, giving companies the quality to negociate their beingness crossed e-commerce, societal media, websites, and chat platforms, Lee noted. Looking ahead, the roadmap includes marque intelligence, offering insights into proviso chains, pricing strategies, and reseller networks.

“Our imaginativeness is to beryllium the backbone of each planetary marque that owns IP — becoming the AI-led services level for IP, content, and marque professionals worldwide,” Lee said.