DeepIP intends to take advantage of this acquisition to become a leader in Germany, the largest European market in the intellectual property sector.
The big announcements keep coming for DeepIP. After completing a $25 million fundraising round in March, the start-up French company, which has developed an artificial intelligence platform to support patent professionals, announced on June 9 that it would acquire its German competitor PatentMaker.
Officially launched in 2025, DeepIP has developed an AI assistant to support lawyers and intellectual property professionals throughout the entire life cycle of a patent, from identification of the invention to its execution, including drafting, risk assessment, invalidity search and even drawing generation. This AI assistant is powered by patent-related regulations and case law.
The start-up, which has offices in Paris and New York and whose business model is based on a SaaS subscription, has set its sights on PatentMaker to strengthen its presence in the European market: “We have good traction in the United States, a little less in Europe, which is a slower market. Germany is the main market for intellectual property in Europe and PatentMaker is the leader there, with very strong penetration among professionals in the sector. This acquisition allows us to become the de facto leader in Germany and to now have a strong position in Europe and the United States”, indicates François-Xavier Leduc, CEO and co-founder. Although the amount of the buyout has not been communicated, it is “far from negligible” and amounts to “several million euros”.
A little less than 500 customers for the new entity
Two thirds of the PatentMaker teams, or around twenty people including the two founders, are joining the new entity, which now has nearly 80 employees. DeepIP also recovers PatentMaker’s customer portfolio, made up of more than 70 companies, while the French start-up claims nearly 400 of its own. This first acquisition marks a major step for DeepIP, which now displays its ambitions: “We want to triple our growth on the European market within two years”. Could other operations of this type follow? “Yes, it’s possible, the market is in a consolidation phase,” announces François-Xavier Leduc.
