Nice, France-based Bodyguard.ai, a company that claims to protect people, platforms and communities against toxic online content through smart and autonomous AI technology, announced on Thursday that it has raised €9M in a fresh round of funding.
About the investors
The round was led by Keen Venture Partners and Ring Capital, with existing investor Starquest Capital doubling down on its seed investment.
The lead investor Keen Venture Partners, which is based out of Amsterdam and London, backs ‘exceptional’ teams and fast-growing scale-ups across Europe at the Series A and Series B stage.
Ring Capital backs high growth and sustainable technology companies through its 3 investment verticles. The three investment vehicles include Ring Altitude, positioned in the growing tech segment and supports French scale-ups in their scaling-up phase, notably through internationalisation and external growth. Ring Mission, a venture impact fund that finances startups that address social or environmental issues. And finally, Ring Foundation, a fund dedicated to financing and supporting tech associations that promote inclusion.
Funds for further internationalisation
Bodyguard.ai says that the capital will be used to expand internationally across Europe and the United States.
With three offices across France and one in Los Angeles, Bodyguard.ai is already well underway in its international expansion strategy. With the opening of an office in London and plans to more than double its workforce in 2022, the company aims to become the toxic content moderation solution for the Metaverse within the next 5 years.
Charles Cohen, CEO and founder of Bodyguard.ai, says, “Bodyguard.ai’s mission is to build a better Internet. Today, I am proud of the mobilisation of our ecosystem to develop our solutions, adapt them to new uses and contribute to the building of Web 3.0. It is essential that the Internet is a space where everyone can feel safe, no matter who they are or what they believe in.”
Protecting communities from online hate
Founded in 2018 by Charles Cohen, Bodyguard’s expert text moderation solution protects individuals, families and businesses against toxic online content, cyberharassment and hate speech.
The company’s app protects individuals from hateful comments across Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and more. Using its proprietary AI model, Bodyguard.ai claims that it accurately moderates more than 95 per cent of toxic content in real-time (less than 200 milliseconds) and does not require a human moderator to check decisions.
To date, the platform has protected more than 700 million people worldwide from threats, racism, misogyny, LGBTQI+phobia, sexual harassment, and “polluting” content (spam, scams, and unwanted ads). International clients across media (M6 Group, Brut, Konbini), entertainment (Jellysmack), gaming (Powder) and sports (French Professional Football League) already use Bodyguard.ai’s software.
According to the company, on average, 4 to 10 per cent of the messages published by users are probably hateful. Here’s a video on how Bodyguard’s solution solves this issue:
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