Tech Talk: Fakespot raises $1M in its search for phony online reviews

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Investment
Fakespot, the tech startup that specializes in detecting phony online product reviews, plans to roll out new features with the help of $1M SRI Capital. (MONTCO.Today file photo.)

The tech startup Fakespot has attracted a $1M investment from Philadelphia venture capital firm SRI Capital.

Fakspot uses artificial intelligence to tackle the increasingly pervasive issue of fake reviews in the e-commerce industry, writes Michelle Caffrey at bizjournals.com.

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“It’s kind of destiny,” said Fakepost CEO Rob Gross, a Philadelphia native. “We were meeting with funds from New York and funds in San Francisco and the best fit and partner turned out to be SRI Capital from Philadelphia. It’s almost like I’m coming home.”

An NPR report in July, which mentioned Fakespot, detailed how some unscrupulous sellers on Amazon tap outside reviewers, often gathered in Facebook groups and subreddits, to purchase products on Amazon, ask them to leave fake positive reviews, and then refund them extra money or send Amazon gift cards to pay them.

With SRI’s funding, along with $300,000 from a deal it inked with a fund in the Middle East that hasn’t closed yet, Fakespot plans to bring on its first developers this month to its office on Wall Street and roll out new features in the next few months.

To read the full story, click here.

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