Beringea backs Aistemos to harness AI to map and analyse global innovation

London, 26 June 2018: Aistemos, the leading provider of patent analytics software, has today announced it has secured an investment of £3m. Beringea, the international growth capital investor, led the Series A funding round. The funding will support the expansion of Aistemos’ core product, Cipher, and the development of a range of products focused on specific sectors, designed to enable businesses to access data about patented technology with greater speed and accuracy.

Intellectual property is a valuable and complex asset class. The latest estimates by the UK Intellectual Property Office show businesses in the country invest £133bn annually into intangible, knowledge-based assets, and there are over 100m patents in the world, registered in more than 100 patent offices and owned by over 1m different organisations.

Cipher harnesses artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to classify, identify, and analyse patents in ways that have traditionally involved intellectual property specialists in an expensive and time-consuming process. Cipher now supports many market leaders including BAE Systems, ARM, and ABB as well as a roster of international law firms, investors and academic institutions.

Aistemos recently launched Cipher Automotive, the world’s first product to analyse patented technologies key to the future of the car. This platform – developed in partnership with a number of the world’s leading vehicle manufacturers and suppliers – enables subscribers to understand global trends in autonomous, connectivity, electrification and shared services which are transforming the sector. Over the last ten years, there has been a doubling of patented inventions to over 500,000. Cipher Automotive is already used by a number of leading OEMs.

Beringea’s investment in Aistemos will be used to develop additional products tailored to industries which are experiencing technology disruption and to provide the business with growth capital to expand its fast-growing team.

Innovation has become the lifeblood of success

“Innovation has become the lifeblood of success,” commented Eyal Malinger, Investment Director at Beringea. “To keep pace, businesses require accurate and immediate access to the bedrock of innovation – intellectual property. Beringea has backed Aistemos as its experienced team has uniquely brought together exceptional expertise in artificial intelligence and law to deliver patent analysis at scale and at pace – this will be vital to businesses seeking to remain competitive.”

Aistemos was founded in 2013 by Nigel Swycher, an influential intellectual property expert with three decades of experience advising in the UK and around the world. Nigel was previously an intellectual property partner at leading law firm, Slaughter and May. He has also acted as an advisor on intellectual property to the UK government and is recognised by IAM Strategy 300 as an expert in the field of intellectual property.

Nigel Swycher, founder and CEO of Aistemos, commented: “Patents are the largest library of scientific information in the world and constitute trillions of dollars of investment in research and development globally. Until now, there has been no efficient way to extract insight from this data.”

Cipher harnesses artificial intelligence and machine learning to enable any person in any business to analyse intellectual property at scale and at speed

“Cipher harnesses artificial intelligence and machine learning to enable any person in any business to analyse intellectual property at scale and at speed. This will contribute immense value to companies with innovation at their core and Beringea’s investment will accelerate our vision of unlocking this potential.”

Cipher was developed by Steve Harris, CTO of Aistemos and a leading academic formerly of the University of Southampton, where he specialised in data science and machine learning. Harris and Swycher are supported by a highly experienced board and advisory board.

About Beringea

Beringea is a highly active growth capital investor with $715m under management and offices in the UK and US. It supports high-growth businesses with annual revenues of more than £1 million, investing between £1 million and £20 million to help companies scale.

With a successful track-record of investments spanning 30 years, Beringea has more than 60 portfolio companies across its US and UK offices. The company has a history of strong partnerships with management teams, often reinvesting in its successful entrepreneurs. Its core areas for investment include digital media, business software and services, and consumer industries. With an extensive range of expertise across the team, and an ability for spotting and following opportunities, Beringea’s portfolio includes companies in a range of sectors, and its team continues to be at the forefront of emerging trends.