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Yakoa develops an AI-powered platform for digital rights protection, primarily within the Web3 ecosystem. Its core offering identifies intellectual property infringements and verifies attribution for digital assets like NFTs. The technology provides content authentication, empowering brands, platforms, and creators to manage their digital rights at internet scale.
Andrew Dworschak and Graham Robinson founded Yakoa in 2022, recognizing emerging challenges in safeguarding digital intellectual property. They identified a pressing need for scalable solutions to monitor and protect digital assets from misuse in the expanding Web3 and AI content landscape. This insight spurred the creation of their specialized protection platform.
The platform serves brands, creators, and digital platforms requiring robust tools to protect assets and ensure proper attribution. Yakoa aims to become the foundational digital rights protection layer for the AI-enabled web. The company envisions creators confidently securing their intellectual property in an increasingly complex online environment.
Yakoa has raised $5.0M across 1 funding round.
Yakoa has raised $5.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Yakoa has raised $5.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $5.0M Seed in November 2022.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 1, 2022 | $5M Seed | — | AccelR8, Alumni Ventures, Amadeus Capital Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Better Capital, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Chaotic Capital, CoinFund, Collab+Currency, Conversion Capital, Digital Currency Group, FAST — BY GETTYLAB, Aniq Kassam, Flori Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Majinx Capital, Master Ventures, Master Ventures Investment Management, Morgan Creek Capital Management, Octopus Ventures, BEN HUH, Orion Willow Parrott, Orange Fund (orange Dao), Pantera Capital, Pareto Holdings, Placeholder, Race Capital, Shaan's ALL Access Fund, Softbank Latin America Fund, SRB Ventures, Sunset Ventures, Trajectory Ventures, Tribe Capital, Volt Capital, Y Combinator, Balaji Srinivasan, Chris Kurdziel, David Rutter, Dylan Field, Imran Khan, JOI ITO | Announced |
Yakoa has raised $5.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Yakoa's investors include Accelr8, Alumni Ventures, Amadeus Capital Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Better Capital, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Chaotic Capital, CoinFund, Collab+Currency, Conversion Capital, Digital Currency Group.
Yakoa is a technology company specializing in AI-powered digital rights protection for creative content, NFTs, and Web3 intellectual property (IP). Founded in 2022 and headquartered in San Jose, California, it builds tools like the Creative Codex—a model that analyzes content evolution, detects fraud across blockchains, and enables brands, platforms, and creators to authenticate IP, manage violations, and ensure compliance at internet scale.[1][2][3][4] Yakoa serves brands, content creators, platforms, and NFT consumers by solving rampant infringement fueled by generative AI, remixes, and blockchain proliferation, where traditional copyright systems fall short; it offers features like AI-detected takedowns, API scanning for submissions, and fine-grained control over IP reuse.[2][4] The company raised $4.8 million in seed funding in November 2022, signaling early growth momentum in the digital asset protection market.[6]
Yakoa emerged in 2022 amid the explosion of generative AI and remix culture, which blurred lines between original and derivative content, rendering outdated copyright enforcement ineffective.[2][3] Founders recognized that existing systems lacked context for how creative work evolves—influences, origins, and infringement thresholds—prompting them to develop AI-driven solutions for the internet's scale.[2] Based in San Jose with a remote-hybrid team across the US, Canada, Latin America, and Europe, Yakoa quickly gained traction by securing $4.8 million in seed funding shortly after launch, focusing initially on NFT fraud detection across blockchains to protect consumers and brand owners.[1][3][6] This pivot from Web3 fraud prevention to broader content authentication reflects its adaptation to AI-native creation trends.[1][4]
These features set Yakoa apart from competitors like WordProof or Stamping.io by emphasizing AI scale and blockchain fraud detection tailored to brands and platforms.[1]
Yakoa rides the AI-native content creation wave, where generative tools and Web3 have democratized creation but amplified fraud, IP theft, and attribution disputes—issues copyright law wasn't designed for.[2][4] Timing is critical: post-2022 AI boom (e.g., ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion) and NFT hype/bust cycles exposed vulnerabilities, with market forces like rising deepfakes, remix economies, and blockchain marketplaces favoring proactive tools.[1][2][6] It influences the ecosystem by pushing content credentials and standards, enabling safer platforms (e.g., via APIs for marketplaces) and empowering creators/brands to monetize transparently, potentially reducing litigation and fostering trust in decentralized digital economies.[2][4]
Yakoa is poised to expand its Creative Codex into full-spectrum IP orchestration, automating more decisions as AI standards mature and Web3 rebounds. Trends like decentralized AI training data markets and regulatory pushes for content provenance (e.g., EU AI Act) will accelerate adoption, evolving its role from fraud detector to essential infrastructure layer. As infringement scales with AI, Yakoa's influence could redefine digital rights, tying back to its origins: rebuilding protection rules for a borderless creative web.[2][4]
