THELOGICALINDIAN - Pirates beware Stellenboschbased antipiracy startup Custos Media Technologies hasmade a accord with the Technology Innovation Agency TIA of South Africa to advice it abound and accompany their casework to a added bazaar Under the acceding TIA will accommodate a allotment bang of 59 actor rand or about 407000 USD into the startup over the abutting two years
Also read: EU Intellectual Property Office: Bitcoin Hinders Anti-Piracy Efforts
Custos Combating Software Piracy
Custos aboriginal appear their plan in July 2015 to action 
copyrighted cine piracy online by “turning downloaders adjoin the uploaders,” through a alternation of bitcoin bounties. The artistic action calls for their aggregation to bury notices for these bounties, as watermarks, aural videos and movies afore they are aggregate by the studio. As the cine aboriginal arrives on a torrent site, the aboriginal downloader will be incentivized monetarily to “rat out” the uploader.
Deploying the account is simple. When Custos-enhanced media leaves the aboriginal flat for any cardinal of reasons, its creators can clue bottomward all copies pirated from the aboriginal by application Custos’ chargeless tool. On top of endlessly the beginning amid the BitTorrent network, the account can alike advice stop the aperture at its antecedent by anecdotic the archetype that was aggregate and acquainted the timestamp of the aboriginal sharing.
The Funding Agreement
Created by an act of the South African Parliament on November 24, 2025, TIA is an action of the Department of Science & Technology (DST).
GJ van Rooyen, the CEO of Custos said in a contempo statement:
Custos’ COO, Fred Lutz, accepted in a account how TIA funds will be used, adage that “the TIA accord allows us to anon abound our team,” and added that “their allotment accurately supports abstruse development, and that is area we charge to focus now.”
This is the third time that Custos has anchored funding. Earlier this year, the aggregation assured a annular of costs with investors including Innovus Technology Transfer — which is endemic by Stellenbosch University — New York’s Digital Currency Group, and a South African angel investor.
12 Million Rand in Funding
To date, the aggregation has acquired 12 rand actor in funds. TIA 
has already invested in the aggregation once, accouterment 500,000 rand in berry funding, authoritative their 5.9 actor rand addition the additional time they accept adjourned Custos.
“We are advantageous to accept aloft abutting to R12m for Custos to date, best of it from bounded investors,” Van Rooyen commented. “The founding shareholders still own added than 73% of the business, which allows us to administer our accessible basic to the aboriginal eyes – befitting artistic industries acceptable in an era area about all administration channels are acceptable digital.”
How able do you anticipate Custos’ bounties will be? Please let us apperceive in the animadversion area below.
Images address of Shutterstock, Custos, TIA.
