Ankar AI, a deep-tech startup founded by ex-Palantir engineers Tamar Gomez and Wiem Gharbi, has raised £3 million (~$4 million) in seed funding to transform intellectual property (IP) workflows with artificial intelligence. The round was led by Index Ventures, with participation from Daphni, Motier Ventures, BOOOM, Puzzle Ventures, and prominent angels like Olivier Pomel (Datadog) and Julien Chaumond (Hugging Face CTO).

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Turning IP into a Strategic Lever

While intangible assets now make up nearly 90% of the value of S&P 500 companies, most enterprises still manage patents, trademarks, and related IP through slow, manual processes. This not only wastes time but also leaves billions of dollars in competitive advantage untapped.

Ankar AI’s platform leverages specialized large language models (LLMs) trained on technical and legal corpora, automating everything from novelty searches and drafting to infringement analysis and monetization.

Global clients - including automotive giant Valeo - already rely on Ankar to turn IP from a compliance necessity into a proactive growth engine. By automating traditionally labor-intensive processes, R&D and legal teams can focus on innovation, rather than endless paperwork.

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From Idea to Full IP Operating System in Just One Year

In less than a year since founding, Ankar AI has rapidly evolved from a prototype to a fully operational IP operating system used by multinational corporations. Its success rests on two major pillars:

• Deep domain expertise: Ankar’s models are fine-tuned specifically for IP data, patent filings, and legal reasoning - rather than relying on generic AI models.
  
• Full-stack integration: The platform covers the entire IP lifecycle - from idea capture and competitive mapping to drafting and enforcement - making it a true "operating system" rather than a point solution.
  

But here’s where the story hides a powerful insight for founders:

As Ankar built out its product, the team realized that real value doesn't just come from having the "best AI model" or flashiest technical features. The deepest moat is built by owning and orchestrating the workflow.

When you integrate seamlessly into your customer's daily operations - becoming their invisible infrastructure - you transform from a tool to a critical business layer. This transition dramatically increases switching costs, generates constant usage data (fueling further improvements), and cements long-term customer loyalty.

For founders, this is an ultra-valuable lesson: focus not only on the intelligence of your tech but on how deeply it embeds into your customer's processes. The most successful B2B products become workflows, not features - and the difference defines whether you grow linearly or exponentially.

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Index Ventures Bets on Deep IP Transformation

Ankar’s £3 million round is led by Index Ventures, one of Europe’s most prominent venture firms, known for backing transformative technology companies.

Hannah Seal, partner at Index Ventures, shared that IP has been stuck in “an outdated, manual mode for decades,” and Ankar’s holistic approach finally allows enterprises to treat IP as a growth asset rather than a cost center.

Other investors include Daphni, Motier Ventures, and angels deeply rooted in AI and enterprise software ecosystems. Their collective belief signals confidence not only in Ankar’s technology but in the founders' vision of building category-defining infrastructure.

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Future Plans: Expanding the IP Cloud

With this new capital, Ankar plans to:

• Expand engineering and machine learning teams to further refine AI models and build new end-to-end automation features.
  
• Scale go-to-market efforts, focusing on large enterprises across pharma, aerospace, automotive, and tech.
  
• Invest in advanced enforcement and monetization tools to help companies turn dormant IP assets into revenue drivers.
  

Ankar also aims to launch new modules to streamline patent valuation, licensing, and litigation support - all seamlessly integrated into its unified platform.

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Why Now?

As companies increasingly compete on innovation rather than physical assets, robust IP strategies are becoming non-negotiable. However, the traditional manual approach to patent drafting, competitor analysis, and enforcement simply can’t keep up with the pace of modern R&D.

Ankar’s AI-first, fully integrated approach addresses this head-on. By transforming a historically reactive, defensive function into a proactive growth driver, Ankar positions itself at the center of a trillion-dollar shift in corporate strategy.