Welcome to our 2024 Impact Report – a look at what our portfolio companies have done to move the needle. This year’s edition highlights the grit, progress and potential of impact startups in a world that feels anything but predictable. It’s a snapshot of where we are, what we’ve learned, and why we believe the case for impact has never been stronger.
The Problem
Invention is how we tackle humanity’s biggest challenges – and AI is rapidly reshaping how those inventions become protected assets. Patent teams can now analyse novelty, draft claims and evaluate prior art with unprecedented depth and speed. But the ecosystem around is filled with fragmented tools, low trust in AI systems and slow enterprise adoption still hold organisations back.
Today, securing a patent can take up to 24 months. Teams rely on a patchwork of Word documents, spreadsheets, emails and outdated IP systems. This results in slow, manual workflows that drain time, stall decision-making and often discourage inventors from filing at all.
Innovation needs a better operating system.
The Solution
Ankar lets innovators focus on what they do best: innovating.
The company has built the first AI-powered operating system that unifies the entire patent lifecycle into one secure workflow. Everything from novelty assessment to drafting to prosecution happens in one place, enabling teams to do in hours what previously took weeks.
Importantly, Ankar acts as an assistant, not an autopilot. Professionals stay in the driver’s seat while gaining the analytical leverage needed to produce stronger claims, clearer framing and more defensible portfolios.
Under the hood, the platform performs instant novelty and prior-art analysis across 150M+ patent applications and 250M+ scientific publications. It transforms invention disclosures into high-quality draft applications with strategic guidance on claim strength and scope. And when examiners respond, Ankar consolidates every piece of analysis and history into a single, intelligent view — a game-changer at a time when competition for IP is intensifying.
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Built for Security in the AI Era
Patent workflows demand the highest level of confidentiality. Ankar was designed with that reality at its core.
Co-founders Tamar Gomez and Wiem Gharbi previously built mission-critical software at Palantir in Europe and the US. That experience now shapes Ankar’s approach to secure patent retrieval, claim-level reasoning, LLM governance and AI safety – all inside enterprise-controlled environments.
And the need for this is only growing. Generative AI makes it easier for competitors to replicate designs, architectures or experimental approaches. In response, C-suites across automotive, electronics and other R&D-heavy sectors are racing to build deeper, more defensible portfolios.
Ankar gives them the leverage to do that. Teams move from idea to granted patent in a fraction of the time, with an average 40% productivity boost and hundreds of hours redirected to high-value work. With IP now representing up to 90% of S&P 500 company value, the impact is enormous.
Early adoption reflects that urgency: 96% of users would recommend Ankar to a colleague.
As Tamar Gomez puts it: “Invention is how we solve humanity’s biggest challenges, yet the systems that protect those ideas are decades out of date. AI will redefine how global organisations innovate over the next five years, turning IP from a cost centre into a growth driver. The companies that adopt Ankar now will shape the future of innovation.”
Wiem Gharbi adds: “Patents sit at the intersection of deep technical knowledge and precise legal reasoning, and AI can finally unlock real leverage in that process. Ankar gives professionals the analytical depth they’ve never had before, enabling stronger strategy and better protection.”
The Round
Ankar has raised a $20M Series A, led by Atomico, with Index Ventures doubling down and Norrsken VC and Daphni participating. This brings total funding to $24M. The capital will be used to double the company’s 20-person team, expand engineering, product and design, and grow Ankar’s go-to-market organisation to support rising demand across Europe and the US. The long-term ambition is to become the software layer that orchestrates how ideas turn into defensible patents globally, which will be the core infrastructure of innovation in the AI era.
Ankar clears the path from idea to impact. We’re thrilled to back Tamar, Wiem and the rest of the team as they speed up the innovations shaping a better future.
Curious to learn more? Visit ankar.ai.
