CrowdIPR, an Estonian-origin startup developing a crowd-sourced intellectual property research platform has received an investment of $135,000 from the UK’s Northstar Ventures and IP Group.
The platform, one might call a “collective IPR brain”, currently connects over 450 technology and intellectual property professionals around the world. To date, over 20 research projects have been completed for universities and companies from the UK, Estonia and Russia.
Taavi Raidma, one of the founders and the CEO of CrowdIPR says the pricing starting from today will offer basic IP research for free, with the option of upgrading to receive more in-depth research and statistics.
CrowdIPR also brings on board Donal O’Connell, Adjunct Professor at Imperial College Business School and formerly of Nokia, as advisor.
Previously he held the positions of VP of R&D and Director of IP at Nokia.
CrowdIPR went to private beta in October 2011 and has thus far carried out over 25 crowdsourced IPR research projects, coming from areas such as chemistry, substances, IT and energy. The clients come from UK, Estonia and Russia as the company is targeting its service to technology companies and universities, but also patent offices and investment companies.