Overview: Ankar aims to disrupt patent filing with AI
Tech startup Ankar has closed a $20 million Series A funding round, betting that artificial intelligence can dramatically shorten and simplify the patent filing process. Founded in 2024 by Tamar Gomez and Wiem Gharbi—two veterans of the Palantir environment who saw firsthand how the patent maze can slow down innovation—Ankar is positioning itself as a modern alternative to traditional legal workflows. The company’s platform uses machine learning to guide inventors and startups through patent discovery, drafting, prior art searches, and filing, with an emphasis on speed, accuracy, and cost control.
Founders’ path from Palantir to patent innovation
Gomez, who brings a business and scaling background, and Gharbi, with a technical lens sharpened by Palantir’s data-centric culture, collided over the frustration of slow patent cycles. Their shared frustration became a mission: to transform a process traditionally dominated by lawyers and manual research into a data-driven, automated service. By leveraging AI to perform prior art searches, suggest claim language, and monitor patent office requirements, they believe they can dramatically reduce cycle times—from months to weeks—and improve odds of successful filings for early-stage technology companies.
How Ankar’s AI changes the patent workflow
At its core, Ankar combines natural language understanding, automated prior art analysis, and rule-based patent drafting assistance. Key features include:
- Automated prior art search: AI scans global patent databases and scientific literature to surface relevant references early in the process, helping teams avoid costly rejections.
- Drafting assistance: The platform suggests claim language and dependency structures aligned with jurisdictional requirements and prosecution strategies.
- Filing automation: The system generates ready-to-file documents, tracks deadlines, and flags jurisdiction-specific quirks, reducing repetitive manual tasks.
- Prosecution insights: Ongoing monitoring of office actions and responsive drafting suggestions keep applicants on track for timely conclusions.
By combining these elements, Ankar aims to reduce the time and cost of patenting for startups and mid-stage tech companies, enabling teams to protect innovations earlier and with greater confidence.
Market need and competitive landscape
The patent process is notoriously opaque and expensive. Traditional routes—heavily reliant on lawyers, paralegals, and expensive translation services—often create bottlenecks for young companies with limited resources. While several legal tech and IP firms offer automation or digital tooling, Ankar’s value proposition centers on end-to-end AI-assisted patent lifecycle management. The company faces competition from legal tech startups and traditional IP practices, but its emphasis on integrated AI-driven discovery, drafting, and prosecution guidance could carve out a niche for speed-to-patent and higher-quality filings.
Funding details and growth trajectory
The $20 million Series A round signals strong investor confidence in Ankar’s approach. The influx will be used to expand AI capabilities, scale the platform to support more jurisdictions, and grow the product and go-to-market teams. Early traction suggests interest from semiconductor, software, and biotech companies seeking faster patent cycles without sacrificing rigor. The founders have indicated plans to expand partnerships with accelerators and venture-backed startups to democratize access to patent protection in competitive tech sectors.
Roadmap: what to expect next
In the near term, Ankar intends to broaden its language and jurisdiction coverage, enabling multinational teams to file coherent patent families across regions. The company is also exploring integrations with existing R&D tooling, project management platforms, and document collaboration suites to embed patent strategy into everyday product development. Long term, Ankar aims to evolve its AI into proactive patent strategy—identifying white-space opportunities for new patents based on a company’s product roadmap and competitive landscape.
Conclusion: a new era for patent filing
With a clear mission to accelerate invention through intelligent automation, Ankar’s Series A funding paves the way for faster, more affordable patent protection. If the platform delivers on its promise, startups may soon experience a dramatically streamlined journey from idea to issued patent, with AI handling much of the heavy lifting that once required extensive legal hours.
