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Venture Capital News: Inscribe Secures $3M in Seed Funding

2018-12-18
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Inscribe has secured $3M in seed funding after graduating from Y Combinator.
Inscribe, a company that automates the process of identifying fraudulent documents using a combination of image forensics and machine learning, has secured $3M in seed funding after graduating from Y Combinator. Crosslink Capital and Uncork Capital led the round with participation from SV Angel, Liquid 2 Ventures, Quiet Capital, Friale, and angel investors Marc McCabe and Brad Flora. Prior to this, Inscribe raised $170,000 from Y Combinator and Acceleprise.

"Document fraud affects almost every industry and sector - from financial services and insurance to governments and marketplaces. Any organization that requires detailed information from documents such as bank statements, utility bills or invoices before making a business decision is at risk," said Ronan Burke, Co-founder and CEO, Inscribe. "At the same time, digital editing tools are making it increasingly easy for people to manipulate documents. Our technology gives businesses the tools they need to quickly and accurately detect document irregularities, saving them from costly mistakes and allowing them to grow with confidence."

Inscribe's new financing will be used to fuel customer growth as well as expand its engineering team in Dublin, Ireland. Inscribe is being piloted with multiple lending companies, including one of the largest fintech lenders in the U.S. Inscribe is also currently used by a wide range of small businesses from those in property management to cryptocurrency exchanges.

Delivered via an API and web platform, Inscribe's solution consists of three elements:
1. Document Forensics. Inscribe checks fonts, colors, and shapes using forensics methods to find hints of fraud stemming from advanced photo-editing or PDF editing software.
2. Document Corroboration. Inscribe cross-checks names, transaction amounts, and addresses between documents. For example, it tells a lender whether bank statement entries match pay stubs.
3. Database Checks. Inscribe checks public and private databases for blacklisted names, addresses, phone numbers, and transaction amounts previously used in fraudulent applications.

"Online fraud is a problem that continues to snowball as the technologies used to commit fraud become more effective and ubiquitous," said Eric Chin, General Partner, Crosslink Capital. "Inscribe is on the forefront of companies combating these issues and is prepared to capture significant market share with its comprehensive approach to document verification. We look forward to working closely with Inscribe as it emerges as the category leader."

Jeff Clavier, Founder and Managing Partner, Uncork Capital agrees, "Ronan and his team have identified a problem affecting thousands of organizations. And thanks to its technology, Inscribe is on track become the de facto solution for detecting document fraud."

About Inscribe
Inscribe quickly and accurately detects fraudulent documents using a combination of image forensics and machine so businesses can trust their customers and grow faster. Inscribe was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information visit https://inscribe.ai/

About Crosslink Capital
Crosslink Capital is a leading early-stage venture capital firm based in San Francisco with over $1.7 billion in assets. Crosslink, which traces its roots back to 1989, invests in early stage technology companies and partners with its portfolio companies on a long-term basis. With more than 25 years behind it, Crosslink has invested in hundreds of private companies, including Pandora, Ancestry.com, Omniture (acquired by Adobe Systems), Equinix, Bleacher Report (acquired by Turner Broadcasting), ServiceMax (acquired by GE), and Coupa. For more information on Crosslink, visit http://www.crosslinkcapital.com.

About Uncork Capital
Uncork Capital is a seed-stage venture firm based in Palo Alto and San Francisco, California. Formerly known as SoftTech VC, the firm was founded in 2004, has invested in over 200 technology startups, and currently has $300 million under management. Uncork Capital is typically the first large check, and the longest relationship, for founding teams. The firm looks for outliers and outperformers who are solving real problems for real people and real businesses. Uncork Capital invests in software that allows companies to operate like the best in the world; and consumer products and services that help people live, play and learn - including hardware and frontier tech. Among the firm's former investments are: Sendgrid; Eventbrite; Fitbit; Brightroll; and Mint.com. Its current portfolio includes: Postmates; Poshmark; Class Dojo; and Molekule. For more information, please visit https://uncorkcapital.com/.
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