Minimize risks, increase revenues.
For investors
What is the real value of a startup?
Using IP analyses helps to correctly assess the prospects of success for startups.
Innovative ideas & creative and committed founders are a key requirement for a successful startup. But they are not enough for long-term success.
What is the actual value of a company? Does it have a decisive competitive advantage through patents, for example?
If a startup owns patents of its intellectual property - products, designs or brands, for example - its value often increases tremendously. They ensure competitiveness and pave the way for long-term success. The decisive factor is how valuable a patent portfolio is.
In addition to the number of patents, their duration of validity should also be taken into account. The monetary value becomes relevant, for example, if the startup is sold at a later date.
But the non-material value of patents is also interesting: they can enhance the reputation of an inventor or the image of the company and thus have a positive impact on marketing.
There are many innovative ideas on the market - often in similar form from different companies. The crucial question is always: which startup will prevail with its idea?
Do intellectual property rights already exist for similar ideas from competitors or can a startup still secure them in order to succeed against potential competitors?
Being able to correctly assess this risk at an early stage provides security for investment decisions.
When evaluating a startup, an increasingly interesting question to consider is how attractive its patent portfolio is for foreign investors.
This depends on the type of technology, its potential demand in the target countries and any existing intellectual property rights in the target markets.
Within Europe, Germany is one of the most attractive locations for foreign investors.
With the help of analyses based on novelty searches in patent and non-patent literature, companies can quickly determine whether their technology offers a competitive advantage and whether it can be protected by patents.
Not infrequently, these analyses also lead to specific suggestions as to how boundary conditions or limitations of the technical field in question might be useful in order to achieve the best possible patent protection.
