Ankar, an IP patent platform, has secured $20 million in Series A funding as it seeks to change the way companies protect and commercialise their innovations in the AI era. The round was led by Atomico, with existing investor Index Ventures doubling down, alongside participation from Norrsken VC and Daphni. With this investment, Ankar’s total funding has reached $24 million.
AI Is Reshaping Intellectual Property
The funding comes amid a fundamental shift in how intellectual property is created and defended. AI is increasingly capable of novelty analysis, prior-art evaluation and patent drafting at unprecedented speed and scale. Yet most organisations still rely on fragmented tools, manual workflows and legacy systems, creating inefficiencies that slow innovation.
A Unified Operating System for Patents
Ankar aims to address this gap with what it describes as the world’s first patent lifecycle operating system, bringing ideation, analysis, drafting, prosecution and portfolio management into a single secure workflow.
Founders Shaped by Palantir Experience
The company was founded by Wiem Gharbi and Tamar Gomez, whose insights stem from firsthand experience. Both previously worked at Palantir, where they built and deployed software for governments and large enterprises in Europe and the US. Gharbi helped organisations extract value from complex data environments and worked closely with executive teams on product strategy.
Seeing the IP Tooling Gap Firsthand
“Coming from a company that builds software for governments and large organisations, I was struck by how little innovation had actually happened in IP tooling itself,” said Gharbi. While exploring new ideas with fellow Palantir alumni, intellectual property repeatedly emerged as a bottleneck to long-term value creation.
A Problem Shared Across Industries
At the same time, Gomez was working as a product manager in defence technology, managing IT lifecycles and encountering similar issues—innovation data scattered across tickets, spreadsheets and disconnected systems. Together, these experiences highlighted a systemic problem that would become the foundation for Ankar.
The Reality of Manual Patent Processes
In practice, patent work remains highly manual. Patent engineers or PhDs often review hundreds or thousands of patent filings and scientific publications to assess novelty and relevance. Information is spread across emails, Word documents and spreadsheets, and securing a patent can take up to 24 months. This complexity slows teams down and can discourage inventors from filing altogether.
Turning Innovation Data into Assets
Ankar’s platform applies AI across more than 150 million patent applications and 250 million scientific publications, enabling teams to analyse and synthesise innovation data far more efficiently. The company says customers see an average 40% productivity boost, freeing hundreds of hours for higher-value work.
From Research to Patent Drafting
The platform supports both upstream and downstream workflows, from analysing research in areas such as pharmaceuticals and advanced manufacturing to structuring and drafting patent applications that often run to dozens of pages. Ankar positions itself as an assistant rather than an autopilot, accelerating work while preserving human control and quality.
Built for Security and Accuracy
Security is a foundational design principle. Patent data is among the most sensitive information in the enterprise, particularly as generative AI lowers barriers to replication. Ankar ensures customer data remains isolated, is not fed back into shared models, and is protected through strict access controls. The company also pursued ISO 27001 certification early.
Accuracy is equally critical. Ankar’s models operate only on verified data sources, with built-in verification layers that allow users to trace outputs back to original documents.
Investor Confidence in Timing and Team
Atomico partner Andreas Helbig said the founders’ experience gives them a clear advantage. “Tamar and Wiem bring exceptional technical depth and firsthand insight into how broken the patent process is. Their traction with Fortune 500 companies shows they’re building the right product at exactly the right time.”
Scaling Teams and Global Reach
With fresh capital, Ankar plans to double its 20-person team, expand engineering, product and design, and grow its go-to-market organisation across Europe and the US. The company’s long-term ambition is to become the core software layer that turns ideas into globally defensible patents—transforming IP from a cost centre into a strategic growth driver in the AI era.