London-based legal technology startup Ankar has secured $20 million in Series A funding to accelerate the growth of its artificial intelligence platform designed to manage the full patent lifecycle.
The funding round was led by Atomico, with participation from Index Ventures, Norrsken VC and Daphni. The raise brings Ankar’s total funding to $24 million and will be used to double its 20-person team and support expansion into the United States market.
Ankar was founded in 2024 by Tamar Gomez and Wiem Gharbi, who previously worked at Palantir. The pair launched the company after encountering what they described as deep inefficiencies in the patent process, which can take up to 24 months and is often spread across disconnected tools such as Word documents, spreadsheets and email threads.
The company’s platform is designed to unify the entire patent workflow, from early-stage novelty checks to drafting and prosecution. According to Ankar, the system searches across more than 150 million patents and over 250 million publications, delivering productivity gains of around 40% for clients. The company says this allows patent professionals to redirect hundreds of hours towards higher-value strategic work.
Ankar counts organisations including L’Oréal and Vorys among its customers. Its technology positions AI as a strategic assistant rather than a fully automated system, offering features such as claim-level reasoning, instant prior-art analysis, large language model governance and enterprise-grade security for confidential workflows.
Wiem Gharbi, co-founder of Ankar AI, said: “Patents sit at the intersection of deep technical knowledge and precise legal reasoning, and AI can finally unlock real leverage in that process. Ankar gives professionals the analytical depth they’ve never had before, enabling stronger strategy and better protection. Atomico shares our ambition to build the infrastructure behind the next generation of global innovation.”
The platform also supports end-to-end orchestration from invention disclosure through to examiner responses, with the company claiming drafting speeds are 60% faster than traditional approaches. Ankar says its broader scope sets it apart from competitors focused on individual parts of the patent workflow.
Looking ahead, the startup plans to expand into major US research and development hubs, particularly in automotive and electronics, where intellectual property competition is intensifying. Longer term, Ankar aims to evolve its platform to include infringement prediction and ecosystem mapping.
Tamar Gomez, co-founder of Ankar AI, said: “Invention is how we solve humanity’s biggest challenges, yet the systems that protect those ideas are decades out of date. AI will redefine how global organisations innovate over the next five years, turning IP from a cost centre into a growth driver. The companies that adopt Ankar now will shape the future of innovation.”
Atomico partner Andreas Helbig added: “Tamar and Wiem bring exceptional technical depth and first-hand experience of how broken the patent process is. Their momentum with Fortune 500 companies shows they’re building the right product at exactly the right moment. We’re proud to support their mission as they build the foundational infrastructure for how the world’s most important ideas are protected and commercialised.”
