Your lead
gets you
funded.
We keep you
defensible.
We co-invest $50K–$200K at pre-seed, seed, and Series A alongside YC, a16z, Sequoia, Benchmark, Greylock and the other firms leading your round - and bring the patent and trademark firepower your cap table is almost certainly missing.
Seed · AStages we co-invest
Your IP is gold.
We keep it safe.
Most seed cap tables insure against downside with boilerplate. We treat every patent, trademark, and infringement action as a holding in your company's sovereign wealth - and fund the defense of it out of our own pocket, not yours.
File
Claims drafted for breadth, not page count. Filed before your competitor sees the product. USPTO-registered counsel, ~$1B in patent value written.
Hold
Continuations, PCT filings, international coverage through 80+ countries - portfolio architecture built for a Series B exit, not a seed-round deliverable.
Defend
Enforcement funded with our capital at risk, not your operating budget. Cease-and-desist, licensing, ITC actions, federal litigation - outcomes, not hourly fees.
Where we invest & defend.
We concentrate where patent protection translates directly into enterprise value - six arenas being reshaped, right now, by applied AI.
Legal Tech
Our native terrainII.Defense Tech
Autonomy · Dual-useIII.Health Tech
Devices · DiagnosticsIV.Energy Tech
Grid · Storage NuclearV.Space Tech
Launch · In-orbitVI.Public Safety Tech
AI-transformed verticalsThe through-line: applied AI meeting a regulated or mission-critical surface. If your startup sits at that intersection and has something genuinely novel in the core technology, you are - by construction - in our wheelhouse. Read the full thesis →
Building is no longer the barrier
AI-assisted development has compressed time-to-MVP from months to days. Technical complexity alone is no longer a moat.
Copycats arrive in weeks, not years
Your first-mover advantage window has collapsed. Capital alone can't buy time the way it used to. Your lead knows this.
Most cap tables lack IP muscle
YC, a16z, Sequoia, Benchmark are exceptional builders. But almost none bring active patent prosecution or enforcement capability to the cap table.
We fit in a small allocation
We're not asking for the round. We're asking for $50K–$200K next to your lead - and we bring what no one else at the table can.
Your lead
is great.
The cap table
still has a hole.
“If a product can be built quickly, it can also be replicated quickly.”
For a long time, the role of an early investor was clear: provide capital, make introductions, help a company get off the ground. That worked when building product was the hard part.
But in the age of vibe coding, Claude Code, and AI-assisted development, building something that works is no longer the barrier it used to be. A determined competitor - with a moderate budget - can replicate most products with frightening speed.
Funds like Y Combinator, a16z, Sequoia, Benchmark, Greylock, Lightspeed are exceptional at helping companies build and scale. But most cap tables still lack one thing: real IP and legal muscle sitting right next to the capital.
That's where we slot in. PatentVC is led by Raj Abhyanker - former lead outside patent counsel for NVIDIA, founder of Trademarkia, founding CEO of the predecessor company that became Nextdoor. Patents he's written or invented have been licensed or sold for nearly $1 billion. He doesn't need a board seat. He needs an allocation.
More than
a check.
Patent Preparation & Filing
We identify what's patentable from day one and file strategically - US provisional, PCT international, and continuations designed to grow with your product.
Trademark & Brand Protection
Via Trademarkia - 120,000+ clients across 80+ countries. File, monitor, and enforce your brand globally before a copycat registers it first.
IP Enforcement & Litigation
We enforce your IP without burning your operating capital. Our model puts our skin in the game alongside yours - we pursue infringers with our capital at risk.
Co-Investment ($50K–$200K)
We co-invest at pre-seed, seed, and Series A alongside your top-tier lead. Our check comes with full IP infrastructure - not just a wire. Selective, fast-moving, Bay Area focus.
We write checks.
We build moats.
We don't lead - we co-invest alongside the best. A small, strategic slot on your cap table, deeply involved from day one. Keep room for us.
Seed · AStages
A small, strategic position on cap tables led by
Closing a round?
Carve out a small
allocation.
We move in weeks, not quarters. If you have a committed top-tier lead and something genuinely novel in your core technology, we want to hear from you - before allocation closes. Raj reads every fit-call request personally.
View investment criteria →Request an introduction
Or reach Raj directly at raj@patentvc.com
IP services available globally - no Bay Area requirement. Capital co-investment favors Bay Area presence and a committed top-tier institutional lead.