French-US patent company DeepIP has raised $15 million.
Patents play a vital role in driving progress, protecting new ideas, and ensuring fair competition. Breakthroughs that begin in research labs require patents to transition into commercial applications. For example, mRNA vaccines were patented by a university and licensed to BioNTech and Moderna to become COVID-19 vaccines. Without patents, most innovations wouldn’t move beyond the lab.
Unfortunately, the patent filing process hasn’t changed in 30 years. Patent applications are still drafted the same way they were—word by word, document by document. While legal tech has modernized contracts and compliance, patent registration remains trapped in a maze of manual work. DeepIP changes this with AI.
Once an R&D team has completed research and the outcome is found valuable, it is handed over to attorneys specialising in Intellectual Property (IP) rights.
The process is very expensive, costing anywhere from $20K to $100K in lifetime costs, and slow — it might take 2 to 4 years for the patent to be granted, with over 1 million applications awaiting review by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Additionally, the process is prone to human error. The literature is complex, the terminology is constantly evolving, and the process is low-tech, relying almost entirely on human-limited cognitive capabilities.
A mistake results in a patent that is non-defensible and, therefore useless. Further, there's a shortage of patent talent.
Co-founders François-Xavier Leduc (CEO) and Edouard d'Archimbaud (CTO) have spent the past five years creating AI solutions for research-driven institutions like Airbus, IBM, and SAP.
Founded in 2024 in NYC & Paris, DeepIP augments rather than replaces existing patent practitioners. The company has already helped draft 8,500 patent applications, with lawyers reporting up to a 50 per cent reduction in time spent drafting, freeing roughly two hours of work per day.
This has led not just to better productivity and improved IP firms’ talent retention, but better quality, with patents that are more robust and more defensible.
DeepIP combines third-party models, proprietary models, and unique data access for better performance and far fewer AI hallucinations. It supports patent practitioners in their daily tasks across patent preparation, drafting, and prosecution.
According to CEO François-Xavier Leduc, there have never been as many innovations that could be protected and create more value for the entire economy.
“Yet, the way we manage the patents that make this possible hasn’t evolved fast enough. We built DeepIP through continuous feedback loops with the 50 largest US IP law firms, refining our AI to deliver with precision and legal rigor.
By combining cutting-edge AI with deep legal expertise, we’re pioneering a new era where patent professionals collaborate seamlessly with AI to work faster, smarter, and more strategically. We augment, not replace”.
"The product-market fit was almost immediate," he continues.
"As one customer put it: 'I already have five colleagues who told me, If you don’t buy this for the firm, I will go buy it myself.'"
A feature that sets the product apart is its ability to analyze past patent applications, allowing DeepIP’s AI to learn and replicate the writing patterns of individual practitioners and their clients. This is crucial, as clients often require a specific tone and particular wording.
DeepIP is also the only AI patent assistant fully embedded in Microsoft Word, offering a seamless integration within attorneys' workflow. DeepIP enforces a strict Zero Data Retention policy and is fully GDPR-compliant, as well as SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified, ensuring complete data segregation and confidentiality.
Today’s funding round is led by AI fund Resonance, with participation from Headline (Mistral AI) and Serena Capital (Dataiku), with Balderton also on the cap table. The company will use the funding to expand its operations in the U.S. and Europe, evolving its current productivity assistant toward a more agentic approach and continuing to add intelligence features.
According to Maxime Le Dantec from Resonance:
"DeepIP is the fastest startup I’ve ever seen reach 7 figures in ARR in 7 months! To me, this is a clear testament to the massive productivity gains DeepIP is bringing to patent practitioners.
I’m convinced that DeepIP will become an essential part of every IP law firm’s operations in the years to come. Having partnered with François-Xavier and Edouard on their first company, Kili, I’m thrilled to join them again on this new journey with us.”
Jonathan Userovici, General Partner at Headline. shared: "Patent filing is essential for scientific advancement, and DeepIP is building its missing piece."
Lead image: DeepIP. Photo: uncredited.
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