BTC
$110,648.75
+
3.93%
ETH
$2,645.98
+
4.74%
USDT
$0.9998
-
0.02%
XRP
$2.4219
+
3.36%
BNB
$686.65
+
4.70%
SOL
$177.85
+
6.45%
USDC
$0.9997
-
0.00%
DOGE
$0.2401
+
7.67%
ADA
$0.7998
+
6.23%
TRX
$0.2785
+
1.14%
SUI
$3.9926
+
8.61%
LINK
$16.51
+
5.20%
HYPE
$30.90
+
18.63%
AVAX
$25.05
+
8.40%
XLM
$0.3012
+
4.25%
SHIB
$0.0₄1524
+
5.75%
HBAR
$0.2027
+
3.88%
BCH
$433.61
+
5.27%
LEO
$8.8691
+
0.87%
TON
$3.1543
+
4.25%
Logo
  • News
  • Prices
  • Data
  • Indices
  • Research
  • Events
  • Sponsored
  • Sign In
  • Sign Up
Finance
Share this article
X iconX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmail

AI-Based Startup Optic Raises $11M to Put the ‘NF’ in NFTs

Optic’s near-term plans include creating a public API for Web3 developers and new tools for NFT creators and collectors.

By Brandy Betz
Updated May 11, 2023, 5:44 p.m. Published Jul 20, 2022, 1:00 p.m.

Optic, a startup that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to authenticate non-fungible tokens (NFTs), unveiled its business on Wednesday and raised $11 million in a seed round led by Kleiner Perkins and crypto-native investment giant Pantera Capital. The company will use the funds toward building out the cost-intensive infrastructure and hiring engineering talent, Optic co-founder and CEO Andrey Doronichev told CoinDesk in an interview.

Other investors in the round included Lattice Capital, OpenSea, Circle, Polygon, CoinDCX, Neon DAO and Flamingo DAO, among others.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.

NFTs are crypto assets with unique on-chain addresses that grant a collector or gamer ownership of that image, video, music or in-game asset, to name a few NFT use cases.

Read more: What Are NFTs and How Do They Work?

Doronichev explained that while an NFT technically is made unique by the on-chain address, its surface-level appearance to the human eye can be indistinguishable from a counterfeit.

“Without Optic, there is no real ‘NF’ in NFT,” Doronichev said.

NFT authentication

Founded in March, San Francisco-based Optic is developing an AI engine that processes the millions of new NFTs minted each day and compares the works to existing NFT collections. Optic looks for visually similarities, including flipped images, color changes or slight distortions or fuzziness. The monitoring tool informs marketplaces, brands or media companies about potential intellectual property violations.

Optic displays a percentage for how much the token matches existing NFT collections with a higher number representing the closest match and the most likely instance of an outright counterfeit. A score under 95% means the NFT probably includes inspired or derivative art, Doronichev said.

Optic’s Marketplace Moderation tool is currently used by NFT giant OpenSea as part of the company's efforts to crack down on fraud.

“Optic isn’t an enforcement business,” said Doronichev. “Our goal is to make the information available and transparent to the ecosystem. Artists and marketplaces can decide what to do with it.”

Doronichev formerly worked as a product director at Google and led the YouTube Mobile team at a time when the video platform was building its counterfeit-fighting ContentID system. He cofounded Optic with AI researchers Roman Doronin and Vlad Vinogradov, who founded Eora Data Lab, an AI studio that delivered projects for the likes of PepsiCo and Yandex.

Road Map

Optic’s near-term road map includes plans for a public application programming interface (API) for Web3 developers and new tools for NFT creators and collectors.

“People think of authenticity and all sorts of fraud and trust issues in the NFT space as a problem of a single marketplace or a single chain or a single creator or community," said Doronichev. "That's not true. That's a systemic ecosystem issue, and it has to be addressed."

FundingFunding RoundsVenture CapitalPantera
Brandy Betz

Brandy covered crypto-related venture capital deals for CoinDesk. She previously served as the Technology News Editor at Seeking Alpha and covered healthcare stocks for The Motley Fool. She doesn't currently own any substantial amount of crypto.

X icon
Brandy Betz

Only 1 article remaining this month.

Sign up for free

About

  • About Us
  • Masthead
  • Careers
  • CoinDesk News
  • Crypto API Documentation

Contact

  • Contact Us
  • Accessibility
  • Advertise
  • Sitemap
  • System Status
DISCLOSURE & POLICES
CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of the Bullish group, which owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish group equity-based compensation. Bullish was incubated by technology investor Block.one.
EthicsPrivacyTerms of UseCookie SettingsDo Not Sell My Info

© 2025 CoinDesk, Inc.
X icon
Sign Up
  • News
    Back to menu
    News
    • Markets
    • Finance
    • Tech
    • Policy
    • Focus
  • Prices
    Back to menu
    Prices
    • Data
      Back to menu
      Data
      • Trade Data
      • Derivatives
      • Order Book Data
      • On-Chain Data
      • API
      • Research & Insights
      • Data Catalogue
      • AI & Machine Learning
    • Indices
      Back to menu
      Indices
      • Multi-Asset Indices
      • Reference Rates
      • Strategies and Services
      • API
      • Insights & Announcements
      • Documentation & Governance
    • Research
      Back to menu
      Research
      • Events
        Back to menu
        Events
        • Consensus 2025
        • Consensus 2025 Coverage
      • Sponsored
        Back to menu
        Sponsored
        • Thought Leadership
        • Press Releases
        • CoinW
        • MEXC
        • Phemex
        • Advertise
      • Videos
        Back to menu
        Videos
        • CoinDesk Daily
        • Shorts
        • Editor's Picks
      • Podcasts
        Back to menu
        Podcasts
        • CoinDesk Podcast Network
        • Markets Daily
        • Gen C
        • Unchained with Laura Shin
        • The Mining Pod
      • Newsletters
        Back to menu
        Newsletters
        • The Node
        • Crypto Daybook Americas
        • State of Crypto
        • Crypto Long & Short
        • Crypto for Advisors
      • Webinars & Events
        Back to menu
        Webinars & Events
        • Consensus 2025
        • Policy & Regulation Conference
      Select Language
      English enEspañol esFilipino filFrançais frItaliano itPortuguês pt-brРусский ruУкраїнська uk