Checkstep, a London-based AI platform that helps online businesses detect harmful content, enforce moderation policies, and stay compliant with regulators, has raised £3 million in a new funding round. The round was led by Alea Capital Partners, with Slow Ventures and Look AI Ventures also participating.
The company was co-founded by Guillaume Bouchard, who previously built and sold Bloomsbury AI to Facebook in 2018. He now serves as CEO.
Content moderation has become a serious operational challenge for online platforms. User-generated content is estimated to account for over 80% of all content online in 2025, a volume that makes manual review unsustainable at any meaningful scale. The global content moderation services market exceeded $12.48 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $42.36 billion by 2035, growing at roughly 13% a year. Regulation is a significant driver. Under the EU's Digital Services Act, platforms are required to implement moderation systems, carry out risk assessments, and offer transparent appeals processes, with fines of up to 6% of global annual turnover for those that fall short.
"Checkstep sits at the intersection of two powerful tailwinds: the explosion of user-generated content and the increasing regulatory burden on online platforms. We believe the company has built a mission-critical product in a category that is shifting from optional tooling to mandatory infrastructure. Combined with a technically exceptional team, strong customer validation, and a scalable enterprise business model, Checkstep represents the type of category-defining software company we actively seek to back." — Angelo Burgarello, Partner at Look AI Ventures
Checkstep offers an end-to-end content moderation platform that handles text, images, video, and audio. Rather than relying on manual reviewers for every decision, the system automates over 98% of moderation calls while keeping a full audit trail, so companies can show regulators exactly what was reviewed and why. That auditability matters increasingly as enforcement becomes more active across the EU, the US, and other markets.
The platform currently processes more than 60 million pieces of content each month. Customers include Trustpilot, JustGiving, Daily Mail, and MoneySavingExpert. The product is designed for organizations that need to enforce their own content policies at scale without building a large internal moderation team from scratch.
The challenge is not simply handling large volumes. Content moderation is complicated by the fact that rules differ across regions, platforms serve audiences in multiple languages, and what counts as harmful varies by context. A system built for one market may need significant adjustment to work in another. Platforms also need to update their policies as new regulations come into effect, which requires infrastructure that can be reconfigured without starting over.
The new capital will go toward product development, commercial expansion, and strategic partnerships. Checkstep is focused on growing its presence in the EU and the US, with particular attention to larger enterprise customers where demand has been picking up. The company reported strong net revenue retention over the past 12 months, alongside increasing interest from enterprise accounts, though specific figures were not disclosed.
"Trust and Safety is a critical function for any online platform. Checkstep is building the Trust and Safety infrastructure that makes it possible to keep users safe at scale. As platforms grow and regulations are increasingly enforced, this can't be managed through fragmented tools or manual processes - it requires a unified system to enforce policy, manage risk, and operate globally. This funding allows us to accelerate our mission to power a safer digital world." — Guillaume Bouchard, CEO and Co-Founder of Checkstep
Bouchard's background spans AI research, enterprise software, and a prior exit. Before starting Checkstep, he co-founded Bloomsbury AI, which he sold to Facebook in 2018, after which he worked at Facebook managing AI integrity in London. That experience informs how Checkstep has been structured: with the compliance demands of large organizations built in from the start.
Alea Capital Partners, a Portugal-based alternative assets firm, led the investment through its Alea Innovation One vehicle, a €35 million closed-end fund backed in part by Portugal's Recovery and Resilience Plan. The fund focuses on enterprise software companies with established product-market fit and a path to international expansion.
Slow Ventures joined alongside Look AI Ventures, a Prague-based fund and the first in the Czech Republic to focus exclusively on early-stage AI startups worldwide.
"Checkstep combines deep Trust and Safety domain expertise with strong, scalable technology and exceptional customer entrenchment. With rapid, capital‑efficient growth and a product embedded in mission‑critical workflows, the team has all the ingredients of a category leader as regulation turns Trust and Safety into core infrastructure for global digital platforms and defines the standard for industry." — Rui Escaleira, Founding Partner at Alea Capital Partners
