Red Points, the smart solution to digital content piracy and online counterfeits, has closed a $12 million Series B round led by European VC Northzone. Previous investors Mangrove and Sabadell Venture Capital also participated in the round.
Intellectual Property (IP) infringement is a huge global issue. According to the OECD, trade in counterfeit goods was valued at USD 0.5 trillion in 2015, amounting to 2.5% of global trade. In addition, the growth of digital properties has led to an expanding problem for brand owners in securing copyright protection across a proliferation of third party sites.
Barcelona-based Red Points has developed a unique cloud-based SaaS solution for IP infringement detection and removal. Founded by Josep Coll, who shortly after brought in David Casellas as co-founder and VP Sales, and with Laura Urquizu joining as CEO in 2014, the company’s easy-to-use platform enables clients to automate counterfeit and piracy identification and take down. This is achieved through an advanced keyword-monitoring system with image recognition to detect IP infringements wherever they occur. Thanks to machine-learning features, Red Points’ clients can rely on ever-evolving online protection that learns from their account history and identifies new threats to be removed. This reduces loss of sale, quality distortion, price erosion, and brand dilution for its customers.
CEO Laura Urquizu comments: “Technology is our weapon against the spread of online IP infringements worldwide. We invest heavily in cutting-edge systems for efficient and cost-effective detection, validation and enforcement of all types of online violation, and provide actionable business insights to brand owners. 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%”.
In 2017, Red Points achieved an impressive annual growth rate of 350%, and extended its customer base from 100 to 300 clients worldwide, with particular traction in Europe and the United States. To further leverage its strong US growth, Red Points will open an office in New York in February 2018.
Laura Urquizu adds: “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. We want to enable any brand, anywhere in the world, to stop the risk of piracy or counterfeiting damaging their consumers and reputation.”
Northzone’s Partner, Jessica Schultz comments: “The online counterfeit market moves very fast. There is a clear gap in the market for a technology solution that is scalable and flexible to the demands of the brand owners, and has strong relationships with the online properties where IP infringements are a problem. When we met the Red Points team, we were impressed with what Laura and her team had built. 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. What Red Points has achieved to date is impressive, and the success is seen in the feedback from their current customers and global growth. Opening a US office is the next natural step, and we are excited to work with Laura and the Red Points team in building their global IP-infringement prevention solution.”
David Waroquier, partner at Mangrove Capital Partners states: “Red Points is disrupting the way piracy and counterfeiting are being detected and resolved over the internet. The combination of a robust technology and an impressive team led by Laura Urquizu provides a highly efficient solution to manage what has become a huge and persistent pain for the industry globally. Their client’s successes to date and business acceleration shows that Red Points is consolidating its leadership position IP infringement detection and removal.”
