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.

“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.

“Our goal is $100M ARR by mid-2027,” Lee said. “Growth could have been faster, but we prioritized two things: delivering the best customer experience and building a scalable AI-driven foundation. As a managed service, we can monetize many offerings, but everything ties back to one core promise—helping global brands control their digital presence and grow revenue.”

Once considered an unappealing category in technology, “services” is being redefined by AI, which brings software-like scalability and efficiency. This shift has fueled investor interest, with Peak XV, HSG, and Salesforce Ventures backing the company’s vision. The rise of large language models has reframed its positioning from a “software company with humans in the loop” to a leader in the emerging AI-led services space, drawing strong competition in its latest funding round.

MarqVision started out fighting counterfeits, using AI to spot and remove fake products online. As the technology advanced, the startup shifted its focus toward helping brands directly recover lost revenue. Today, many clients report a roughly 5% boost in sales, making the platform valuable not just to legal teams but also to go-to-market organizations tracking revenue impact, according to Lee.

When Lee first pitched MarqVision, he envisioned a $5 billion software company, selling $50,000 tools to 10,000 IP teams worldwide. But YC partner Michael Seibel urged him to think bigger — beyond software — by reimagining how IP and brand professionals work. MarqVision has since expanded into end-to-end managed services, an opportunity Lee now believes is 100 times larger than his original plan.

Brand protection typically involves detecting and removing infringements like counterfeits and impersonations, while brand control goes further, giving companies the ability to manage their presence across e-commerce, social media, websites, and chat platforms, Lee noted. Looking ahead, the roadmap includes brand intelligence, offering insights into supply chains, pricing strategies, and reseller networks.

“Our vision is to be the backbone of every global brand that owns IP — becoming the AI-led services platform for IP, content, and brand professionals worldwide,” Lee said.