IP Copilot wants to use artificial intelligence to turn Slack messages into patents

Copilot IPa startup that uses artificial intelligence to modernize intellectual property management, today announced that it has raised $4.2 million in seed funding led by Salesforce projects and Introduction projectsWith participation from Next generation projects and Blogging.

Founded by AI experts and holding more than 1,000 patents, the San Francisco-based company aims to simplify how companies discover and protect innovative ideas by analyzing internal communications and documents in real time.

“Everyone is an inventor,” said Austin Walters, CEO of IP Copilot, in an exclusive interview with VentureBeat. “Engineers are busier than ever and our goal is to reduce the friction between ideas and patents, and help more innovators become inventors.”

Unlike other AI tools that focus on drafting patents, IP Copilot focuses on early discovery through integration with platforms like Recession and Jira To identify potentially patentable ideas as they arise in everyday business conversations.

How AI enhances the workflow of intellectual property legal teams

“At a large company, one IP consultant might be responsible for 10,000 employees. “You can’t read all the Slacks available to you every day, and all the tickets,” explained Jason Harrer, who recently joined as founder and general counsel after serving as head of IP at Plaid. Your Jira, and all the landing pages that change.” “Our tool gives patent teams the superpowers of reading virtually everything available to them and automatically ranking the best patent candidates.”

The company’s approach combines traditional machine learning with large language models, prioritizing accuracy over pure automation. “About 60% of it is traditional machine learning,” Harrer said. “We use what I think is the best AI for what it does well, and then we use big language models where it works really well.”

To address privacy concerns, the system only monitors public channels and can be deployed within an organization’s cloud environment. “Everything we have is a first-party system,” Walters stressed. “We do not send communications to third parties.”

Enterprise IP management is facing an AI transformation

The funding comes at a critical time for enterprise intellectual property management. As AI innovations accelerate, companies struggle to effectively identify and protect intellectual property. While most AI startups focus on automating patent drafting, IP Copilot’s focus on early discovery could reshape how companies build their patent portfolios.

The startup’s roadmap indicates broader ambitions. Plans include expanding into trade secret management and introducing natural language interfaces for portfolio analysis. These moves could make IP Copilot a comprehensive IP intelligence platform rather than just another legal technology tool.

But perhaps the company’s most striking innovation is not technological, but philosophical. In an environment crowded with AI companies promising to replace human expertise, IP Copilot chose a different path. “AI won’t take your job, but a lawyer using AI can take your job,” Harrer says.

For patent professionals monitoring the AI ​​revolution, this distinction could make a big difference.