Sequoia’s Asia spinoffs bet on AI startup fighting online fakes

Sequoia Capital’s former Asian arms are investing in a little-known startup that hunts and helps take down unauthorized sales listings of AI chips, drugs, games and luxury products.

Los Angeles-based Marq Vision Inc. raised $48 million in a Series B round led by Peak XV Partners, formerly Sequoia’s India and Southeast Asia business, with participation from HSG, formerly Sequoia China. Salesforce Ventures and Tokyo-based Coral Capital Inc. also participated alongside existing investors Y Combinator, Altos Ventures Management Inc. and Atinum Investment Co., lifting the total amount raised for the company to $90 million, according to a statement.

The five-year-old startup, which counts some LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE brands among its customers, is opening an office in Tokyo to meet growing calls in the world’s anime and creative industry mecca to combat a surge in copycats with the advent of generative AI.

“It’s kind of AI against AI,” said founder Mark Lee, who declined to comment on the company’s valuation. AI gives the startup the ability to tackle counterfeits at scale, but the same technology is also available to scammers and pirates, helping to contribute to an estimated $3 trillion illicit economy, he said. “The magnitude of the problem has also increased.”

Last year, the startup’s AI tools flagged about 50 million potential intellectual property violations, including impersonations across some 1,500 e-commerce and social media sites. It helped get about 99% of those taken down, Lee said.

Marq Vision’s staff in Shanghai and Seoul have worked with Asian companies to address the high volume of counterfeits manufactured in the region, Lee said. It’s also increasingly working with animation studios, fashion brands and other creators in Asia, as the region grows into an IP powerhouse of its own, he said.

“Japan and Korea are our strong suit, and we want to expand here more quickly,” he said.