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This startup uses AI to make searching and analyzing patents much easier. Check out the 12-slide pitch deck IPRally used to raise $10.6 million.
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- An AI startup making patent searchers quicker and more efficient just raised 10 million euros ($10.6 million).
- Helsinki-based IPRally, which was founded in 2018, uses AI to “think” like a patent professional.
- We got an exclusive look at the 12-slide redacted pitch deck it used to raise the fresh funds.
A startup helping attorneys search and analyse patents more efficiently has just raised 10 million euros ($10.6 million).
Helsinki-based IPRally, founded in 2018, uses AI to “think” like a patent professional and make it easier and more efficient to search and analyze legal documents, instead of having to manually sift through lengthy technical files.
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Cofounder and CEO Sakari Arvela had the idea while working as a patent attorney.
“Patent attorneys do basically two things, they draft new patent applications and then they analyze existing patents,” Arvela told Insider. They are typically looking at whether a design has already been patented and how to improve an application they are working on, he said.
“And it all comes down to matching technologies to each other. That is the quick question that that I had: ‘Can we automate technology matching somehow … can machines learn to understand technology at a deep level?'”
A user simply taps their idea into the platform’s search and it will generate results using an algorithm that understands the structural and functional elements of a proposed design. It converts this detail into a graph and compares it with the graphs it has built for each patent in the database. The company claims this gives more relevant results in a way that is easier for both computers and humans to read. The graph is highlighted in IPRally’s pitch deck below.
When it comes to analysis, IPRally’s AI can highlight the most relevant data points or passages in otherwise lengthy patents. The technology is used by patent offices of big companies such as Nvidia, Spotify, and Bentley Motors, as well as multiple Nordic trademark offices, which have to thoroughly examine applications to tell whether something is patentable or not.
AI can only be as good as its training data. IPRally used global patent data with existing patents that professional patent examiners have studied and annotated to train its AI. The platform returns the best results in its sweet spot sectors of automotive, high-tech, and energy.
It is also an open AI model, meaning the platform can show you how it has come up with its end result. Arvela said this transparency was key to building trust with customers.
Arvela touts IPRally as an eventual one-stop-shop for patent searches. The company plans to automate competitive intelligence so that customers can monitor rivals and see what patents they are filing. As people are constantly filing new patents, the platform’s data is updated on a weekly basis.
The Series A round was led by Dutch firm Endeit Capital. Existing investors Join Capital, Spintop Ventures, and Icebreaker.vc also participated.
Around 70% of IPRally’s customers are currently Europe-based. The remainder are in the US, where the company hopes to build its presence using the cash injection. It is currently building a team there.
IPRally’s overall headcount sits at 37 but will grow to 55 by the end of the year. It’s growing its tech team and is on the hunt for an AI lead.
The fresh funds bring the company’s total raised to 14 million euros ($14.8 million).
Check out the 12-slide pitch deck below:
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