IPwe

About IPwe

IPwe was established in 2017, with a formal founding year of 2018, by Erich Spangenberg to address inefficiencies within the intellectual property market. Spangenberg, a figure with a deep and often controversial history in patent monetization, brought decades of experience from law, investment banking, and running a globally recognized patent monetization firm. His journey includes being a partner at law firm Jones Day, involvement in over 1,000 licensing transactions generating more than $500 million, and advising on over $2 billion in patent financing and acquisition deals. This background provided him with unique insights into the patent system's shortcomings, which he aimed to resolve by creating a more transparent and accessible marketplace.

The company operates as a global financial technology firm focused on the intellectual property space, leveraging artificial intelligence and blockchain technology. Its core business is to provide analytics and a transaction platform for patents. Initially, IPwe was built in collaboration with IBM's Blockchain Accelerator to create a marketplace for buying, selling, and licensing patents, even venturing into representing patents as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to enhance liquidity. The business model has since shifted to focus more on its data analytics product, the Smart Intangible Asset Management (SIAM) solution. This platform provides real-time financial valuations and benchmarking for patent portfolios, enabling businesses to understand the financial value of their IP assets. Revenue is generated through tiered-subscription access to its platform and services, catering to a wide range of clients from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to large corporations, universities, and financial institutions.

IPwe’s key offerings are centered around its AI-powered analytics and blockchain-based registry. The Global Patent Registry (GPR) was developed to create a single, transparent, and accessible source for the world's patent data, recorded on a blockchain for immutability. Their SIAM solution, integrated into platforms like Clarivate's IPfolio, offers data-driven insights for financial decision-making related to IP. The company also introduced 'Smart Pools,' which are patent pools for specific technology areas like blockchain and the metaverse, designed to simplify licensing and reduce litigation risk for members. Despite these efforts to build a comprehensive IP ecosystem, the company faced significant challenges, including a lack of willing buyers on its transaction platform, which led to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in early 2024 with plans to restructure and focus on the data analytics side of the business.