The IP patent application process has become cheaper, easier and faster with the Cambridge launch of a new application service by Sweden-based Lightbringer for the UK market.
The company was founded in 2023 in Sweden, and the incredibly disruptive all-in-one solution for patent protection was launched in May 2024.
The AI-driven service enables customers to build their patent strategy and invention portfolio for just £99 per month – and potential customers are able to access a free two-week trial to assess its suitability. When their inventions are ready, customers can apply for patent protection using Lightbringer’s patent subscription service, with oversight by a trained team.
Lightbringer UK launched at the Bradfield Centre – home to the company’s UK team. Lightbringer co-hosted last Thursday’s event, titled ‘The AI Patent Revolution’, in partnership with Innovate UK and Cambridge Network. Key members of the team were over from the company’s HQ at Lund in Sweden, including co-founders Dominic Davies (CEO) and Ola Wassvik (chief commercial officer), Sannah Westerlund, chief marketing officer (CMO) and founding member, and Alexis Podolny, innovation director, along with Cambridge-based innovation director Lee Goodchild.
The company has been boosted by a €4.2million funding round led by Luminar Ventures and Alliance VC.
It means the global rollout for the service – a Silicon Valley launch is also in the pipeline – continues at pace. To put the new offering into perspective, a traditional patent attorney can cost £400 an hour, so £99 a month for a platform that can provide help to start-ups on their patent journey is an incredible breakthrough. As well as the cost, it’s the speed. It used to take 2-4 months to get a patent filed, while with Lightbringer it takes 2-4 weeks.
Ahead of the Bradfield Centre launch, Dominic and Ola were upbeat.
“Applying for a patent is usually a very manual process,” said Dominic. “It hadn’t changed for 150 years, and the reason that patents were undisrupted is because it requires conceptual thinking to crack it and change was not possible with software until AI arrived and suddenly it’s a big unlock.
“The clever conceptual work was difficult until large language models arrived, until GPT3 [OpenAI’s ChatGPT3 launched in 2022] arrived, then it all started working properly.
“We’re the fastest moving company in this space in the world, because we started early.”
Dominic has been a UK and European patent attorney for more than 20 years “working with all types of technology”. He moved to Sweden to become a European patent attorney in 2010, having originally obtained a Master’s in information systems engineering from Imperial (he codes in Python, among other languages).
“I’d been working with Ola for years and we saw an opportunity to solve the problem for the market,” he says of Lightbringer’s exegesis.
Calling Lightbringer’s service “software AI with a human attorney in the loop”, Dominic adds: “At its simplest, our customers are start-ups who need to protect valuable new technology.
“We provide them with a digital platform, they write their idea down and we turn that invention into a patent application. We also work with larger companies in a more hands-on way, helping with their IP strategy using the experience of our partner attorneys, software and our specialist team. To run through the whole process takes three or four years. That’s to get protection in the US, China, etc. They’re all different applications, and our programme helps you manage.”
Ola notes: “The customer doesn’t have to interact with a person in China. They interact with us, so we’re a one-stop shop. That’s the same for all the countries in the world – you apply in the UK and you only have to interact with Lightbringer for your global journey.”
He adds: “We’ve had several dozen customers so far, from Europe and the US. We have a very high retention rate – when they go from the old to the new method it’s very difficult to go back as clients save so much time and a lot of money too.”
So why Cambridge?
“Firstly,” says Dominic, “Cambridge is an extremely innovative environment with more than 5k deep tech companies. Many file patent applications annually – the number of patent applications in Cambridge yearly is incredibly impressive. Cambridge is and will continue to be a European AI stronghold.”
“Plus,” says Ola, “the Cambridge community is very tight-knit and in Cambridge we can come into contact with a lot of companies.
“Life sciences is high on the list of course, but also there’s semiconductors, electronics, and consumer devices…”
Dominic adds: “Cambridge is a natural choice for us. It’s a global epicentre of innovation, boasting the highest patent application rate in the UK. We’ve spent the last few months on the ground here, and we’re blown away by the potential and the people we’ve met.”
The Bradfield event went very well. There is a debate to be had about the use of AI and how it affects jobs, but the business case for using Lightbringer’s service is compelling – and they’ve made it ridiculously easy to test-drive.
“With Lightbringer, you get a lightweight offering which is free for two weeks, then it’s £99 a month,” says Dominic. “That gives you access to all the tools – including a tool to help you develop a patent strategy, and access to all our analytics tools.”
