Patently

What Patently does

Patently is a UK-based private SaaS company that provides an integrated AI-powered patent intelligence platform serving patent attorneys, law firms, and corporate IP departments. Founded in 2018 by patent professionals Jerome Spaargaren (patent attorney and litigator) and Heather McCann (partner and patent attorney at EIP), the platform is built on a proprietary family-level patent data foundation known as Genetic families, constructed from direct patent office data and refined over a decade. The company covers the full patent lifecycle — searching, drafting, prosecution, oppositions, litigation, analysis, and licensing — through six core modules: Patently Search (Vector AI semantic search), Patently Create (AI drafting with Onardo), Patently Shape (prosecution and litigation automation), Patently Rate (collaborative FTO and analysis), Patently License (SEP analytics), and Patently Mine (AI claim charting), plus the Patently 100 annual SEP ranking.

The platform's underlying AI stack combines a proprietary Vector AI semantic search engine, the Onardo AI assistant (a multimodal drafting tool powered by OpenAI and Anthropic LLMs but processed on secure UK on-premises servers with zero data retention), and a proprietary multimodal pipeline for claim charting. Patently holds a granted US patent for its Create technology (US 12,436,953 B2) alongside pending applications across the UK, US, and WIPO/PCT routes for Create, Search, and Shape. Strategic partnerships with Questel and Concur IP power the Patently License SEP analytics product with expert-reviewed essentiality data, drawing on expertise from the founders' prior work on the Unwired Planet v Huawei FRAND case.

Patently monetizes through tiered SaaS subscriptions: a Free tier for individual users, a Starter tier at £79/month per user, Business+ (team), Law Firm+ (with matter-centric management and IPMS integration), and Enterprise (custom pricing with SSO, white labeling, and dedicated Customer Success Managers). The company employs 1-10 people and serves 1,500+ active patent users across 40+ countries. Customer logos span large enterprise technology (Samsung, BMW, Huawei, Qualcomm, InterDigital, Megger Instruments) and patent-focused law firms (EIP, Haley Guiliano).

Name

Patently

Legal name

Patently Limited

Website

https://patently.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Patently provides an integrated AI-powered patent intelligence platform covering searching, drafting, prosecution, oppositions, litigation, analysis, and licensing, serving patent attorneys, law firms, and corporate IP teams across 40+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Patent Intelligence Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132), Legal Services (5411)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

IP Search, Watch & Competitive Intelligence (BPAHAMAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Standards-Essential Patents (SEP) & FRAND Advisory (BPAHAMAL), IP Filing, Annuities & Renewals Administration (BPAHAMAJ), IP Valuation, Damages & Royalty Analysis (BPAHAMAH)

Keywords

• Patent search software
• Patent drafting AI
• Patent analytics platform
• Intellectual property tools
• SEP licensing analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription SaaS - Free Tier: Free tier for individual users providing basic search capabilities with filters, chat with Onardo, and family browsing. Serves as a funnel for paid tier conversion.
2. Subscription SaaS - Starter Tier: Per-user monthly subscription at £79/mo/user with up to 10 users. Includes projects, team collaboration, and custom fields for families. 14-day free trial available.
3. Subscription SaaS - Business+ Tier: Team license with unlimited users, AI drafting (Create), prosecution (Shape), and analysis (Rate) tools. Custom pricing indicates negotiation-based enterprise sales.
4. Subscription SaaS - Law Firm+ Tier: Specialized tier for law firms with matter-centric client management, client access, and IPMS integration. Built on Business+ foundation.
5. Subscription SaaS - Enterprise Tier: Bespoke solutions with internal permissions, SSO sign-in, SEP data and analytics, custom allowances, white labeling, and enhanced support.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Patently provides an AI-powered, family-level patent intelligence platform covering the full patent lifecycle: semantic patent search, AI-assisted drafting of claims/figures/descriptions, prosecution and litigation support, collaborative FTO/landscape/invalidity analysis, automated claim charting against standards, and SEP licensing analytics. It is sold primarily as a SaaS subscription to patent attorneys, law firms, and corporate IP departments, with a Free tier for individual users, a per-seat Starter tier, and custom-priced Business+, Law Firm+, and Enterprise tiers.

Product overview

Patently is a unified AI-powered patent management platform offering a suite of integrated modules: Search (AI semantic patent search with Vector AI), Create (AI patent drafting assistant powered by Onardo), Shape (AI prosecution, oppositions, and litigation), Rate (collaborative patent analysis for FTO and other projects), License (SEP analytics with true essentiality data), and Mine (AI claim charting for standards and SEPs). The platform is built on a family-level foundation of patent data and is used by patent attorneys, inventors, and in-house teams. Pricing tiers include Free, Starter (£79/month/user), Business+, Law Firm+, and Enterprise. The company launched in 2018.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Onardo™: Patently's proprietary AI assistant used in conjunction with Create for drafting patents. Onardo helps draft claims, figures, and full descriptions from invention disclosures.
• Patently Search™
• Patently Create™
• Patently Shape™
• Patently Rate™
• Patently Mine™
• Patently License™
• C-Tree®

Products and services

• Patently Search AI-powered patent search tool using Vector AI semantic search that ranks patents by relevance and meaning rather than just keyword match. Includes family-based search, FAB citation browser, C-Tree family navigator, and team collaboration features, and is aimed at patent attorneys, IP professionals, and corporate IP teams performing prior art, FTO, and landscape searches.
• Patently Create AI patent drafting assistant powered by Onardo that drafts complete patent applications including claims, figures, and full descriptions from invention disclosures. Includes a built-in drawing editor with automatic figure labeling, configurable Manners drafting styles (classic, house, or custom), and on-premises UK processing for patent attorneys and inventors drafting new applications.
• Patently Shape AI-powered tool for global patent prosecution, oppositions, and litigation that automatically gathers documents, identifies relevant sections, and drafts first versions of legal analysis and arguments. Provides family-wide strategy with asset-level execution for patent attorneys, IP professionals, and litigators.
• Patently Rate AI-powered patent analysis workspace for FTO, landscape, novelty, invalidity, and competitor projects that enables collaborative rating, commenting, and sharing with full edit history. Supports custom workflows and rating schemes and exports to Word/Excel for patent attorneys and IP teams running portfolio analysis projects.
• Patently Mine AI-powered claim charting tool that maps patents against standards and technical documentation (standards, product specs, teardown reports) in minutes rather than days. Uses a multimodal pipeline combining proprietary NLP and AI to deliver high-quality claim charts at scale for SEP licensors, licensees, and standards bodies.
• Patently License SEP analytics platform providing true essentiality data, trusted ownership, and deep coverage across 4G, 5G, Wi-Fi, and beyond. Built on expertise from the Unwired Planet v Huawei case and includes expert-reviewed essentiality analysis via partnership with Questel and Concur IP for SEP licensors and licensees.
• Patently 100 Annual ranking of the world's leading Standard Essential Patent (SEP) owners for cellular and Wi-Fi technologies, published in partnership with Questel. Analyzes SEP ownership, essentiality rates, and global distribution trends for SEP stakeholders, licensors, and licensees.

Quantifiable outcome

• 85% reduction in review time
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• QuestelcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Strategic partnership with Questel, a global leader in intellectual property solutions, for the Patently 100 annual ranking of SEP owners. Questel integration brings True Essentiality analysis capabilities to Patently License, with assessments generated and cross-checked by Concur IP's technical experts.
• Concur IPcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerConcur IP provides expert-reviewed true essentiality analysis for Patently License. Their technical experts generate and cross-check all essentiality assessments for the deepest evaluation of standards-essential patents, ensuring trustworthiness of SEP data.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Broad incumbents

• Clarivate (Derwent / CPA Global): Clarivate owns Derwent and CPA Global, the legacy standards in patent search, analytics, and IP management software. It competes directly with Patently's Search, Mine, and Rate modules at global enterprises and law firms, but offers a much broader IP workflow portfolio beyond AI-native patent tools.
• Questel: Questel is a global IP solutions provider offering Orbit Intelligence for patent search and analytics, and is Patently's strategic partner for the Patently 100 SEP ranking. It is a competing platform for patent search, SEP analytics, and IP portfolio management serving similar enterprise customers.
• Anaqua: Anaqua provides IP management software (Anaqua IPfolio) used by corporate IP departments and law firms for portfolio management, docketing, and matter management — overlapping with Patently's IPMS integration and Law Firm+ tier capabilities.
• LexisNexis (PatentAdvisor): LexisNexis PatentAdvisor provides patent analytics, prosecution insights, and examiner behavior data used by the same patent professionals as Patently's Rate and Shape modules. It is part of a broader legal information platform serving law firms and in-house IP teams.

Direct peers

• PatSnap: PatSnap is an AI-powered patent analytics and intelligence platform offering semantic search, landscape analysis, and innovation intelligence. It competes head-to-head with Patently Search and Patently Rate across corporate R&D and IP teams globally.
• IPRally: IPRally is a Finland-based AI patent search startup using transformer-based models for prior art and FTO searches. It targets the same patent attorney and corporate IP segments as Patently Search with similar semantic search capabilities.
• IPfolio: IPfolio is a dedicated IP management and patent prosecution software platform serving corporate IP departments and law firms, overlapping with Patently's Law Firm+ tier and IPMS integration capabilities.

Emerging players

• Amplified AI (now Anaqua Acclaim): Amplified AI (rebranded as Anaqua Acclaim) is an AI patent search and analysis tool that overlapped directly with Patently Search and Patently Mine. Now within Anaqua's broader IP suite, it represents a competing AI-first patent intelligence offering.

Others

• Google Patents: Google Patents is the most widely used free patent search and discovery tool globally, providing a baseline of patent searching utility. It serves as a top-of-funnel alternative and SEO competitor for Patently's free search tier users.

Regional players

• Erik Pijnacker (EIP) / IP law firms with native AI tools: EIP is a leading European patent litigation and prosecution firm whose partner (and Patently co-founder Heather McCann) helped seed the company. As an existing customer and design partner, EIP represents the regional, boutique-firm segment that Patently's Law Firm+ tier is purpose-built for.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/patentlyHQ

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Patently