Unitary, an AI-powered visual moderation company, has raised £12.4 million in Series A funding. The funding, led by co-founders Sasha Haco and James Thewlis, will be used to bolster Unitary’s research and development programs and forge partnerships with leading social platforms and brand safety organizations. Unitary’s machine learning technology can simultaneously analyze multiple signals in videos and images, allowing it to understand their content and context in the same way that humans do. This capability will be crucial for platforms that need to adapt to new regulations like the UK’s Online Safety Bill and the EU’s Digital Services Act, which will require more proactive moderation and action against illegal content, including child sexual abuse material.
As internet traffic continues to increase, the amount of information on the web is expected to grow tenfold between 2020 and 2025. Driven by complex video content that makes up 80% of internet traffic, this challenge is beyond human reviewers alone. Unitary’s machine learning solution helps platforms navigate nuance by analyzing combinations of visual, aural, and textual content.
According to CEO Haco, “Our vision is for ethical, empathetic AI to enhance how visual content is experienced online. We’ve always focused on how we might be able to use AI to ensure a safer online experience, and keep up with the pace of internet content. This funding enables us to stay at the forefront of video understanding research and fulfill our mission of making the internet better.”
Led by Creandum with participation from Paladin Capital Group and Plural, the investment comes as London-based Unitary launches across multiple languages, doubles the size of its team, and triples the number of daily videos it classifies from two to six million a day.
Gemma Bloemen, principal at Creandum and Unitary board member, said that “Unitary has emerged as clear early leaders in the important AI field of content safety, and we’re so excited to back this exceptional team as they continue to accelerate and innovate in content classification technology.”
Ian Hogarth, partner at Plural and Unitary board member, added that “from the start, Unitary had some of the most powerful AI for classifying harmful content” and that the company had already accelerated to seven figures of ARR (annual recurring revenue) this year. “It’s no wonder the team has been able to attract Series A investors so rapidly. We’re confident that this is the team that is set to redefine how we ensure visual content safety in the digital age.”