Solve Intelligence, a legal tech startup specializing in AI-powered solutions for patent attorneys, has secured $3 million in funding from a group of prominent investors, including Y Combinator, Amino Capital, General Advance, SAV, Translink Capital, and Nomad Capital.
Solve Intelligence, founded by individuals with deep expertise in artificial intelligence, is addressing a critical gap in the legal tech industry. The startup’s Chief Research Officer, Sanj Ahilan, and CEO, Chris Parsonson, both completed their PhDs in artificial intelligence at University College London. They experienced firsthand the challenges and complexities associated with obtaining patents while working at tech giants like Huawei and Dyson.
Motivated by these experiences, they embarked on a journey to create an innovative solution tailored for patent attorneys. Chris Parsonson’s patent attorney girlfriend further emphasized the scarcity of software tools available to patent attorneys beyond basic word processing software.
Unique intersection of technology and patent law
Patents, as Chris Parsonson highlighted, stand apart from other areas of legal tech due to their intersection of technology and patent law. Drafting a patent requires not only legal expertise but also a profound understanding of the underlying technology. Unlike many other legal professionals, patent attorneys often specialize in STEM fields through extensive education and training.
Solve Intelligence offers an in-browser document editor that resembles Google Docs but is empowered by an AI co-pilot designed to assist patent attorneys in intellectual property generation. The AI solution is equipped to identify novelty and non-obviousness, crucial aspects of the patent process. Approved patents define what is novel and non-obvious about a new technology in comparison to existing technologies in the public domain.
Chris Parsonson explained, “Our AI will be able to automatically pick out the most promising novel and non-obvious steps, rank them by commercial viability, and send these over to the IP firm working with the tech company to begin drafting the patent.” Additionally, the AI product aids in patent portfolio infringement litigation after the patent has been drafted.
Despite being in its early stages, Solve Intelligence has gained significant traction. It boasts a user base of over 25 IP firms across the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America, many of which report efficiency improvements ranging from 60% to 90%. The startup has already started generating recurring revenue, with subscription-based sales ranging from approximately $100,000 to $1 million.
Booming patent analytics market
The patent analytics market is projected to witness substantial growth, with an expected increase from $1.3 billion in 2022 to $5.18 billion in 2032. This growth is indicative of the increasing importance of intellectual property and the demand for innovative solutions in the legal tech sector.
Solve Intelligence acknowledges that some attorneys may have concerns about using generative AI tools like ChatGPT due to confidentiality issues related to undisclosed inventions. Chris Parsonson, however, believes that these concerns are primarily rooted in a lack of understanding about AI. He reassured potential users by emphasizing that everything is encrypted during transit and storage, residing on enterprise AWS servers known for their robust security measures.
Solve Intelligence sets itself apart by not relying on clients’ data for training its AI. Instead, it utilizes proprietary models, algorithms, sequential language model calls, and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) approaches. The startup is actively securing patents for many of these methods and collaborating with IP firms to patent these innovations with the assistance of its AI product.
AI’s future in the legal profession
Solve Intelligence envisions a future where AI becomes an integral part of daily tasks for legal professionals. Chris Parsonson stated, “The winners will be those who rapidly iterate their product to something genuinely helpful for legal professionals.” To achieve this, the startup has assembled a highly skilled team of AI PhDs and software development experts focused on delivering features that cater to user needs faster than competitors.
While several companies in the legal tech space focus on various aspects of intellectual property, such as prior art search and technology classification, Solve Intelligence stands out for its emphasis on generative tasks related to patent drafting and responses to office actions. The startup’s dedication to addressing this specific niche sets it apart from other players in the market.
Solve Intelligence plans to utilize its recent funding to expand its team, meet the growing demand from new customers, and further scale its research and development efforts. Over the coming months, the company intends to release a new generation of patent drafting features, including algorithms and processes for using AI to generate and analyze technical drawings, enhance patent quality, and customize drafting styles to match individual attorneys.
