When Mark Lee was a law student at Harvard, a trademark class exposed him to the staggering scale of counterfeiting, an illicit industry worth more than $3 trillion annually, and set him on an unexpected path to entrepreneurship.
“I was always broadly interested in technology and startups, but I never really thought I’d be an entrepreneur. I assumed I was set to become a lawyer; most of my family members are lawyers, and practicing law felt like a natural path,” Lee said in an exclusive interview with TechCrunch. But when he got to Harvard Law, the education wasn’t quite what he expected, Lee said, adding that he began to question whether a career as a corporate lawyer was the right fit.
“So I started exploring different ideas. One day, I took a trademark class and learned that counterfeiting is the world’s largest criminal enterprise, $3 trillion in counterfeit products traded every year, about 8% of global commerce. What struck me was that during COVID, as everything was moving online, this already massive market was growing 20% a year, fueled by marketplaces and social media,” Lee continued. “I saw it as a universal problem—and one that could be solved with the technology I was passionate about at the time: computer vision.”
That insight became the seed for MarqVision, the company he later co-founded in 2021. The name itself reflects its origins: “Marq” from trademark, and “Vision” from computer vision. The mission was straightforward but ambitious: harness AI-powered computer vision to fight counterfeiting and trademark infringement on a global scale.
Fast forward to 2025 and the LA-headquartered AI startup has closed a $48 million Series B round, bringing its total capital raised to about $90 million.
Roughly half of the fresh capital will go toward expanding its AI and engineering teams to accelerate automation and integrate generative AI across its product suite. Another $10 million is earmarked for making the platform enterprise-ready as the company moves upmarket to target larger brands, while an additional $10 million will fund regional expansion. Already active in the U.S., Korea, China, and Europe, MarqVision is now entering Japan, highlighting the borderless nature of IP law and the company’s push to scale globally.
The financing was led by Peak XV Partners — formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA — with participation from Salesforce Ventures, HSG (formerly Sequoia China), Coral Capital, and Michael Seibel, partner emeritus at Y Combinator. Returning backers, including YC, Altos Ventures, and Atinum Investment, also joined the round.
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“Increasingly, top-tier investors are looking for technology companies that leverage AI not just to enhance productivity, but to fundamentally transform service delivery,” Lee explained. “AI is expanding the total addressable market for software from efficiency tools into the execution of the work itself — unlocking a market opportunity of over $10 trillion. While many early-stage companies are experimenting with AI to disrupt labor-intensive service industries, very few have reached the early growth stage with the scale and traction.”
MarqVision serves more than 350 customers worldwide across industries ranging from fashion and luxury to gaming, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, automotive, and consumer electronics. The startup reached $1 million in annual recurring revenue within eight months, $10 million in three years, and recently crossed $20 million after four years, doubling annually along the way.
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