In an innovation-driven global economy, infringements of intellectual property rights, piracy, and counterfeiting pose a significant problem. Whether it is online or offline, the dangers are market loss, occupation of economic space by unauthorised operators, a threat to consumer safety, and more.
While piracy and counterfeiting cannot be eradicated, it can be proactively combated through anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy strategy. And Smart Protection from Madrid is doing precisely that. The Spanish startup identifies and eliminates illegal copies and improper usages of brands through a technological platform.
Raised €10M funding
In the latest development, Smart Protection closed €10M Series B funding, co-led by Dutch firm Knight Capital, Spanish-Israeli Swanlaab Venture Factory – specialised in SaaS B2B – alongside CDTI, the Spanish National Innovation Agency.
Other existing investors, including Nauta Capital, JME Ventures, Bankinter, Big Sur Ventures, and Telefónica Tech Ventures also participated in the round. To date, the company has secured €20M in funding. The investment will be used to broaden the company’s technological solution and hire global talent.
“With this investment, we will accelerate our international expansion and broaden our technological solutions to protect brands from reputational damage and the loss of profits that counterfeits online cause,” says Javier Perea, the CEO and co-founder of Smart Protection
Dedicated to fighting piracy and online counterfeits
Founded in 2015 by Javier Capilla, Javier Perea, and Manuel Moregal, Smart Protection is a technology company dedicated to fighting piracy and online counterfeits. As of now, the company works with numerous companies across 25 countries in Europe, the US, and LATAM. It’s worth mentioning that 76% of the company’s revenue comes outside Spain.
According to the Spanish scaleup, it has experienced rapid growth in 2020, which is reflected in the doubling of its turnover compared to 2019 results, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Specialisation
The company is specialised in areas such as:
- Brand – Protects products and brands belonging to all sectors and every scope of non-authorised usages.
- Media – Protects movies, series, live broadcasting emissions, and TV channels against piracy.
- Live – Protects broadcasted events online and TV Channels.
- Publishing – Protects all kinds of digital titles: books, magazines, newspapers, manuals, or comics.
95% efficiency ratio
As per the company, the efficiency ratio rises to 95% regarding the elimination of illegal counterfeits from identified copies. Since the Spanish startup members of Google’s TCRP Program (Trusted Copyright Removal Program), it allows them to delist URLs at the highest speed and efficiency.
Main image credits: Smart Protection