AI startup Tradespace secures $4.2M in seed funding to uncover $1 trillion unrealized IP value

Over the years, companies worldwide have built up a collection of intellectual property (IP), consisting of patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. While intellectual property law safeguards these ideas, creations, and inventions from unauthorized use, a significant portion of this IP portfolio goes untapped. That’s why a tech startup is working to help companies unlock trillions in untapped intellectual property value.

Enter Tradespace, a venture-backed AI startup that is revolutionizing how organizations handle intellectual property. Using generative AI technology, Tradespace helps companies build top-tier intellectual property portfolios, assess new inventions, manage intricate patent strategies, and uncover high-value licensing opportunities.

Since its inception four years ago, Tradespace has already generated over $100 million in intellectual property revenue for prominent organizations in the high-tech sector, including AGC, BAE Systems, the Department of Defense, and esteemed research institutions such as the Department of Energy, MITRE, and Northeastern University. Boasting a remarkable 100% revenue growth in the last three quarters, Tradespace was recently chosen to develop an IP marketplace for the U.S. Army Research Lab.

In an exciting development, Tradespace announced today that it has secured $4.2 million in seed funding led by Eniac Ventures, along with participation from Abstract Ventures, Amplo VC, and Scrum Ventures, bringing their total funding to $5.2 million. This fresh capital injection will be used to launch the first IP platform powered by a purpose-built large language model (LLM) trained on an extensive dataset of open-source and proprietary IP data.

In conjunction with the funding, Tradespace has unveiled its AI-powered IP Management Platform, heralding the future of intellectual property. This platform aims to streamline the research process for IP teams, saving both time and money, while simultaneously revealing new opportunities for portfolio value through avenues such as commercialization, partnerships, financing, and mergers and acquisitions.

Alec Sorensen, the founder and CEO of Tradespace, highlighted the transformative potential of their AI models, emphasizing their goal to reshape how IP owners develop high-quality patents and identify strategic opportunities for their businesses. Sorensen emphasized the historical underutilization of IP, despite it being a significant asset, and expressed the belief that Tradespace’s technology could change this paradigm.

“IP has long been one of our economy’s most valuable assets, but it’s also been one of the most underutilized,” said Alec Sorensen, founder and CEO of Tradespace. “This new funding enables Tradespace to continue developing the most powerful, domain-specific AI models that will change how IP owners develop high-quality patents, identify their crown jewels, and create new opportunities for the business.”

Tradespace has already made a significant impact by generating over $100 million in IP revenue for key players in the tech industry. Scott Asmus, Chief IP Counsel at BAE Systems, praised Tradespace for providing invaluable visibility into their IP portfolio, enabling the leveraging of world-class IP for innovation and shareholder value.

“Tradespace provides unique visibility into our IP portfolio and is an invaluable resource for leveraging our world-class IP to drive new innovation and create value for shareholders,” said Scott Asmus, Chief IP Counsel at BAE Systems.

Founded in 2019 by Alec Sorensen, who brings extensive experience in management consulting, Tradespace addresses the challenges faced by organizations in understanding and commercializing their IP. Sorensen’s vision is to empower every IP owner with tools and expertise to unlock the potential of their portfolios, turning underutilized IP into groundbreaking innovations.

Tim Young, founding partner at Eniac Ventures, emphasized the transformative potential of applying a bespoke LLM to IP, foreseeing a new era where useless patents can be eliminated, and inventors can realize the full potential of their intellectual property.

With AI taking center stage across global Fortune 500 companies, Tradespace aims to empower IP leaders, enabling them to build, manage, and commercialize high-value IP portfolios. Using a 70 billion parameter LLM trained on extensive IP data, Tradespace automates workflows, reducing the time and costs associated with evaluating new IP by up to 40%. The goal is to help companies build robust IP portfolios that protect core innovations and unlock lucrative commercialization opportunities, ultimately delivering lasting value to the business.