US AI patent platform start-up DeepIP has acquired German AI assistant PatentMaker as it seeks to create a benchmark for how patent professionals use AI across Europe.
DeepIP says the deal will help it establish a leading AI platform in patent drafting and prosecution in Europe, tailored for each local jurisdiction.
PatentMaker is an AI assistant for patent lawyers and intellectual property (IP) teams, expediting patent applications and helping lawyers with research, drafting and analysis in managing patents.
According to DeepIP, the PatentMaker platform is used by almost 50% of Germany’s top IP firms, alongside leading corporate IP teams such as Infineon Technologies and Siemens AG.
François-Xavier Leduc, CEO of DeepIP, said: “What impressed us with PatentMaker is how deeply embedded it already is in practitioners’ workflows.
“This isn’t just a technology fit, it’s a shared way of thinking about how patent work should evolve. Having already gained significant adoption across the US and France, the acquisition of PatentMaker embeds us even more deeply in the EPO ecosystem.”
Dr Matthias Hofmann, founder of PatentMaker, said that the acquisition combines the strengths of both parties “into one unified platform”.
He added: “DeepIP brings resources, software scalability, product depth and global momentum, while PatentMaker brings practical legal expertise and a deep understanding of patent workflows in Germany and across Europe.”
The integrated platform is designed to assist patent lawyers and in-house IP teams to facilitate the full patent cycle. This ranges from invention capture to post-grant work in a secure environment, resulting in faster turnaround times and fluid communication between teams and jurisdictions.
Munich-based PatentMaker was founded by Dr Hofmann in 2020, a patent attorney who is also now a partner at IP specialist Boehmert & Boehmert.
DeepIP is headquartered in New York and was founded two years ago by Leduc and Edouard d’Archimbaud, who previously co-created AI solutions firm Kili Technology.
In March, DeepIP secured $25m in a Series B funding round co-led by Korelya Capital and venture capital firm Serena.
They were joined by existing investors Balderton Capital and Headline, who also participated in the Series A $15m funding round which took place in March last year alongside Serena Capital. That round was spearheaded by AI fund Resonance.
The firm says that it is used by more than half of the top 50 North American IP law firms, and more than 25,000 patent applications have been drafted on its platform.
It also boasts a client base of more than 400 law firms, along with corporate IT teams across 25 jurisdictions and five continents.
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