Checkstep
Checkstep is a London-based AI content moderation platform that automates Trust & Safety workflows across text, image, video, and audio for enterprise customers in gaming, marketplaces, streaming, dating, social, and review platforms, including Trustpilot, Daily Mail, and JustGiving.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Checkstep does
Checkstep is a London-headquartered, fully remote B2B software company founded in 2020 that operates an AI-driven content moderation platform for trust and safety teams at online platforms. The platform automates the review of user-generated content across text, image, video, and audio using a combination of third-party foundation models (AWS Rekognition, OpenAI, Cohere embeddings) and proprietary classifiers, with confidence-scored routing that auto-actions high-confidence violations, routes medium-confidence items to human reviewers, and logs low-confidence content for QA. Core components include a customizable Policy Engine, an AI Marketplace allowing customers to test and swap underlying models, ModBot for automated decisions, an author profiling system that tracks repeat offenders, and a DSA/UK Online Safety Act compliance module with transparency reporting and user-facing appeals.
The company serves enterprise customers across six primary verticals — gaming, marketplaces, streaming, dating, social, and review sites — with a customer roster that includes Trustpilot, JustGiving, Daily Mail, MoneySavingExpert, Star Stable, Instant Gaming, and Streamable. Revenue is generated primarily through subscription contracts plus usage-based scanning credits, with additional revenue from advanced models, custom classifiers, and professional services. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales with API-first delivery (REST API, webhooks, AWS S3/GCS integration), supplemented by event marketing at Trust & Safety industry conferences and content-driven demand generation.
Checkstep's leadership team draws heavily from Meta/Facebook Trust & Safety, including CEO Guillaume Bouchard (former co-founder of Bloomsbury AI, acquired by Facebook in 2018) and VP Trust & Safety Deniz Atabey Alkan (formerly Meta, TikTok, Snap, Bumble, Trustpilot). The company holds SOC 2 Type II certification (audited by EY) and is GDPR-compliant, positioning it for enterprise procurement in regulated industries. To date, Checkstep has raised approximately £8.3 million across three funding rounds (2021, 2022, 2026), with the most recent being a £3 million round in April 2026 led by Alea Capital Partners.
Checkstep firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Checkstep
- Legal name
- Checkstep Limited
- Website
- https://checkstep.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Checkstep is a London-based AI content moderation platform that automates Trust & Safety workflows across text, image, video, and audio for enterprise customers in gaming, marketplaces, streaming, dating, social, and review platforms, including Trustpilot, Daily Mail, and JustGiving.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Checkstep industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Trust & Safety / AI Content Moderation Software
- NAICS
- Investigation and Personal Background Check Services (561611)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Social Media & Community Moderation (BPAAALAA)
Keywords
Where Checkstep is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices2 records
Markets served
Checkstep business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Content Moderation SaaS Subscription: Subscription-based content moderation services delivered via API and web application. Includes scanning credits, policy management, and moderation workflows. Additional costs for advanced models and custom classifiers.
- Usage-based Scanning Credits: Scan Fee Schedule based on volume of content processed. Fee schedule available via separate documentation link. Additional items available for purchase including media extensions and additional classifiers.
- Additional Services: Additional items including media extensions, source content providers, content analytics, and customer support usage extensions can be purchased.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Enterprise package with Priority Support |
| Subscription | Monthly | Standard Support for all customers |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
Checkstep product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Checkstep provides an AI-powered content moderation platform that automates the review of user-generated text, images, video, and audio for platforms such as marketplaces, social networks, dating apps, gaming, streaming, and review sites. The platform combines multi-modal AI classification with customizable policy engines, automated decisioning, and human-in-the-loop review, delivered via API and a web application.
Product overview
Checkstep offers a unified AI content moderation platform combining automated content scanning with human expert review. The core platform includes Policy Engine for policy management, ModBot for automated decisions, and AI Marketplace providing access to multiple AI models (AWS Rekognition, proprietary classifiers). The platform supports text, image, video, and audio moderation across abuse categories including hate speech, adult content, violence, harassment, scams, and misinformation. Additional modules include DSA Transparency Tool for compliance reporting, Transparency Portal for user appeals, and a REST API for platform integration. The platform serves industries including gaming, marketplaces, streaming, dating, social media, and review sites.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Checkstep AI Content Moderation Platform Unified AI-powered content moderation platform combining automated content scanning with human expert review for trust and safety teams. Supports text, image, video, and audio moderation with configurable policy rules, confidence thresholds, and compliance reporting for DSA and Online Safety Act requirements.
- Checkstep API REST API enabling platform integration for content ingestion, webhook-based decision delivery, bulk operations, community reporting, and transparency portal access. Supports HTTPS Bearer authentication and native AWS S3 and Google Cloud Storage integration.
Quantifiable outcome
- 90% reduction in human moderation costs
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Checkstep
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Checkstep technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration4 records
AI capability10 records
Feature11 records
Checkstep partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, integration partner, bpo partner and sub-processor partner.
- Illuminate TechstrategicPartnership announced at London Trust & Safety Meet Up October 2025. Illuminate Tech and Checkstep partner to bridge the gap between Trust & Safety operations and regulatory compliance. George Billinge (CEO, Illuminate Tech) participates in events.
- Modulateintegration partnerTechnology integration partner supporting voice moderation capabilities. World-class integration and partner ecosystem for Checkstep's platform.
- Amazon Rekognitionintegration partnerAI strategy integrated into Checkstep for image analysis. Part of Checkstep's AI marketplace providing access to top AI models.
- OpenAIintegration partnerAI strategy available in Checkstep's AI marketplace. Part of ecosystem of world-class integrations supporting platform capabilities.
- ModSquadbpo partnerBPO (Business Process Outsourcing) partner for human moderation services. Handpicked to ensure customers can get the most from Checkstep's platform.
- Unitarysub-processor partnerSub-processor for content moderation services with official address at Arquen House, 4-6 Spicer Street, St. Albans, England.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights7 records
Checkstep competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ActiveFence: ActiveFence is the largest dedicated AI trust & safety platform, offering content moderation, threat intelligence, and regulatory compliance tooling to enterprises. Directly competes with Checkstep across verticals such as social, dating, gaming, and marketplaces.
- Hive: Hive provides AI-powered content moderation APIs for text, image, video and audio, with a strong focus on model-agnostic classifiers. Overlaps directly with Checkstep's AI Marketplace and multi-modal scanning offering.
- Besedo: Besedo combines AI and human moderation services for marketplaces, dating and social platforms. Directly competes with Checkstep in verticalized T&S delivery, with a similar AI + human review hybrid model.
- Unitary: Unitary is an AI video and multimodal content moderation platform serving social platforms and user-generated content sites. Already listed as a Checkstep sub-processor, indicating overlapping capability and customer base.
- Cinder: Cinder provides trust & safety operations software including content moderation, policy management, and appeals workflows for platforms. Overlaps with Checkstep's Policy Engine, Transparency Portal and appeals functionality.
- Spectrum Labs: Spectrum Labs offers AI-based content moderation focused on toxicity, grooming and sexual harassment detection in social and gaming platforms. Directly competes for the same gaming and social vertical customers as Checkstep.
- Modulate: Modulate specializes in AI voice moderation for real-time conversations in games and social platforms. Checkstep lists Modulate as an integration partner, and the two are complementary on voice content moderation.
Broad incumbents
- Microsoft (Azure AI Content Safety): Microsoft offers Azure AI Content Safety, a hyperscaler-grade content moderation API integrated into its cloud stack. Competes as a broader platform incumbent with Checkstep, often as an embedded feature rather than a standalone T&S suite.
- Amazon Web Services (Rekognition & Comprehend): AWS provides foundational content moderation via Rekognition (image/video) and Comprehend (text). Checkstep uses AWS infrastructure and Rekognition within its AI Marketplace, but AWS also competes for direct moderation spend.
Others
- ModSquad: ModSquad is a leading outsourced moderation and customer support BPO. Listed as a BPO partner of Checkstep, addressing the human-in-the-loop tier that complements Checkstep's AI automation.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Checkstep social profiles
Digital presenceCheckstep compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Checkstep financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Checkstep leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Checkstep funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors13 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Checkstep M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Checkstep
What does Checkstep do?
Checkstep provides an AI-powered content moderation platform that automates the review of user-generated text, images, video, and audio for platforms such as marketplaces, social networks, dating apps, gaming, streaming, and review sites. The platform combines multi-modal AI classification with customizable policy engines, automated decisioning, and human-in-the-loop review, delivered via API and a web application.
Is Checkstep a public or private company?
Checkstep is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Checkstep founded?
Checkstep was founded in 2020. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Checkstep based?
Checkstep is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Checkstep make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Content Moderation SaaS Subscription is the primary driver. The others are usage-based Scanning Credits and additional Services.
Who are Checkstep's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ActiveFence, Hive, Besedo, Unitary, Cinder, Spectrum Labs and Modulate. Broad incumbents are Microsoft (Azure AI Content Safety) and Amazon Web Services (Rekognition & Comprehend). ModSquad is listed as an others.
Does Checkstep have an API?
Yes. Checkstep provides a REST API for integrating content moderation into platforms. The API supports asynchronous content ingestion, synchronous moderation for real-time use cases, webhook-based decision delivery, bulk content submission, community reporting, appeals processing, and transparency portal integration. Authentication is via Bearer token over HTTPS. Webhooks are delivered as JSON with mandatory timestamp and webhook_type fields. The API also supports AWS S3 integration for asset access and Amazon SQS for webhook delivery. Developer documentation is at api.checkstep.com/api/v2/docs.
What industry is Checkstep in?
Checkstep's product category is Trust & Safety / AI Content Moderation Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAAALAA, Social Media & Community Moderation. Its NAICS code is 561611.