The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), a public entity established by an Act of the South African Parliament, has reached an agreement with blockchain antipiracy startup Custos Media Technologies, providing a funding injection of R5.9m over the next two years.
According to the official announcement, Custos use the blockchain technology in order to create a “tracking technology” for media piracy and outsource the difficult search for pirated content to file-sharing communities. The company is focusing on the global content protection market. It provides media owners to keep recipients from redistributing copyrighted content.
“TIA has again shown their commitment to support early stage technology businesses in South Africa. The funding agreement will allow Custos to accelerate product development, while simultaneously freeing up resources to spend on bringing the product to the widest possible market,” Van Rooyen, CEO of Custos stated.
Earlier this year, Custos concluded a round of financing with investors including Stellenbosch University owned Innovus Technology Transfer, the New York-based Digital Currency Group, and a South African angel investor. TIA already provided the first seed funding used by researchers at Stellenbosch University into Custos’s first full product. The R500,000 TIA Seed Fund award was used to help the founders to bridge the risky gap crossed to take an early-stage research concept to market.
“The TIA deal allows us to immediately grow our team. Their funding specifically supports technical development, and that is where we need to focus now,” Fred Lutz, COO of Custos stated. When asked about whether the funding injection will affect the company’s operation, he stated that Custo’s priority as of now is to attract the best technical talent possible.
