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SINGAPORE (BLOOMBERG) – PatSnap, founded in Singapore, achieved a valuation in excess of $ 1 billion (S $ 1.35 billion) in a new round of funding, with SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Tencent Investment among those backing the provider of patent analysis.
CPE Industrial Fund and existing investors Sequoia China, Shunwei Capital and Vertex Ventures have joined the US $ 300 million Series E round, the software company said in a statement. PatSnap will use the funds for product development and expand its sales presence.
Joining the list of global tech unicorns, PatSnap is benefiting from increased spending on research and development, with the United States and China seeking an edge amid intense trade tensions between the countries. PatSnap software enables inventors and researchers to gain insight into innovations that are being developed around the world.
“The trade war between the United States and China is essentially about technology and many companies want to know where to invest,” Jeffrey Tiong, founder and CEO of PatSnap, said in an interview. “We spent more than 10 years collecting patent data from 140 countries and we use artificial intelligence to provide information.”
Founded in 2007, PatSnap, short for Patents in a Flash, provides intellectual property data and analysis to more than 10,000 clients, including Spotify Technology and Xiaomi Corp. It employs more than 700 people in Singapore, London and Toronto.
PatSnap started in Singapore, which has long positioned itself as neutral ground, before expanding into China, where it now has more than 50 percent of the market.
Users of the PatSnap software platform can type key words and phrases like “electric vehicle” to gain insight into companies, technologies and inventors in the space. Its page on Tesla, for example, shows a map of companies connected to the US electric car maker, with Panasonic Corp at the top to reflect its collaboration with the battery.
PatSnap makes money by charging a subscription fee that is typically $ 20,000 to $ 30,000 per year. Some startups pay as little as $ 5,000 for limited use, while large companies can shell out as much as $ 500,000. Vacuum cleaner manufacturer Dyson and SZ DJI Technology, the world’s largest drone manufacturer, are among the customers.
Tiong, 37, came up with the idea for PatSnap while interning at medical device startup BioConnect Systems in Philadelphia in 2004. Charged with evaluating patents, he had to consult several government websites and found that the documents of intellectual property were arcane. He envisioned software that would help make the process simple and easy to understand.
After returning home and graduating from the National University of Singapore, he founded PatSnap with a $ 55,000 government grant. Tiong also added three co-founders: CTO Markus Haense; Vice President of New Business Ray Chohan; and Senior Vice President of Asia-Pacific Guan Dian.
“The journey has been a challenge for the founding team of PatSnap,” said Chua Kee Lock, Managing Partner of Vertex Ventures, one of the first sponsors to lead the PatSnap Series A and D + funding rounds. “Against all odds, they managed to create a truly differentiating solution.”
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