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How Palantir Alums Are Transforming Patent Filing with AI

Paul Allen

17 Dec 2025 • 6 min read

Patent filing processes often take up to 24 months and require weeks of manual research by attorneys. London-based startup Ankar, founded by two former Palantir employees, just raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Atomico. But this isn’t about speeding paperwork—it’s about redefining how companies leverage intellectual property as a strategic asset. “Patents aren’t just legal documents; they’re leverage points for innovation,” says Ankar’s CTO.

Conventional Views Obscure the Real Patent Problem

Corporate IP is often seen as a costly necessity rather than a growth driver. Patent filing is dismissed as tedious legacy work. But that mindset ignores the underlying constraint: the outdated system’s inability to scale patent discovery and optimize claims efficiently. Unlike typical AI hype focused on content generation, Ankar leverages AI to reposition this constraint. This shift parallels themes explored in why AI actually forces workers to evolve, where AI augments the fundamentally human, strategic work rather than replaces it.

Large Language Models Unlock Hidden IP Leverage

Ankar’s platform searches 150 million patent applications and 250 million scientific papers, using large language models (LLMs) to identify semantic similarities beyond keyword matching. This reduces weeks of patent prior art searches to minutes. By surfacing nuanced overlaps, it arms inventors and attorneys with actionable insights to draft claims that maximize protection scope.

Competitors rely on keyword-based databases or external patent law firms, often incurring high costs and slow turnaround. Ankar’s integrated approach cuts manual labor by 40%, freeing hundreds of hours for high-impact IP strategy—a statistically significant productivity boost reported by clients like L’Oréal.

Turning Patent Costs into Strategic Assets

Unlike legacy tools viewed as cost centers, Ankar transforms patents into competitive weapons that scale without constant human input. Its AI-guided claim suggestions and application drafting features systematically identify gaps in prior art, a leverage mechanism invisible in traditional processes.

Meanwhile, many companies across automotive and electronics sectors are racing to protect IP amid fears generative AI will streamline their imitation. By embedding AI directly into patent drafting and filing, Ankar creates a scalable moat that changes the IP game. This approach recalls leverage shifts in OpenAI’s ChatGPT scaling, where infrastructure design enabled exponential reach at minimal marginal cost.

Who Gains from This Constraint Shift?

Firms with complex, innovation-heavy portfolios gain disproportionate advantage using Ankar’s AI-powered IP workflows. This funding will double the startup’s 20-person team, accelerating deployment across Europe and the U.S.—markets where IP value drives valuation.

Expect to see greater AI adoption in IP-intensive industries, with companies moving from manual patent filing to entirely AI-augmented systems. Those controlling IP infrastructure design will leverage outsized innovation returns. This demonstrates a vital lesson: “Optimizing how innovation is protected is as powerful as the innovation itself.”

Explore related insights in why salespeople underuse LinkedIn profiles and why Wall Street’s tech selloff reveals profit lock-in constraints to understand how constraint repositioning drives leverage across industries.

If you're interested in revolutionizing the way your business handles patent filing and strategy, tools like Blackbox AI can empower developers and innovators to leverage artificial intelligence effectively. By automating coding and development processes, this platform complements the strategic insights outlined in the article, allowing companies to maximize their potential in intellectual property management. Learn more about Blackbox AI →

Full Transparency: Some links in this article are affiliate partnerships. If you find value in the tools we recommend and decide to try them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend tools that align with the strategic thinking we share here. Think of it as supporting independent business analysis while discovering leverage in your own operations.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does Ankar reduce patent filing time?

Ankar leverages large language models to search over 150 million patent applications and 250 million scientific papers, reducing weeks of manual prior art research to minutes and cutting manual work by 40%.

What makes Ankar’s patent filing approach different from traditional methods?

Unlike keyword-based databases and external law firms, Ankar uses AI to identify semantic similarities in patent data, enabling more efficient claim optimization and strategic IP leverage.

Who founded Ankar and how much funding have they raised?

Ankar was founded by two former Palantir employees in London and recently raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Atomico.

What industries benefit most from Ankar’s AI-powered patent tools?

IP-intensive sectors like automotive and electronics gain the most advantage by using Ankar’s platform to scale innovation protection and move from manual to AI-augmented patent filing.

How does Ankar help companies turn patents into strategic assets?

Ankar transforms patents from costly necessities into competitive weapons by using AI-guided claim suggestions and drafting features that uncover gaps in prior art for broader IP protection.

What impact has Ankar’s platform had on client productivity?

Clients such as L’Oréal report a statistically significant 40% reduction in manual patent filing labor, freeing hundreds of hours for high-impact strategic activities.

How is AI changing the future of patent filing according to the article?

AI enables scalable, integrated patent drafting and filing systems that augment human strategic work, creating a moat against imitation and driving outsized innovation returns.

Tools like Blackbox AI empower developers by automating coding processes, complementing Ankar’s strategic AI insights in intellectual property management.