Tradespace Raises Our Series A to Fix the Economics of IP Law
January 26, 2026 | 5 min readContact:
Andrea Christman
Poston Communications
202.302.1511
Led by AVP, the round empowers enterprises to shift IP development and management in-house, cutting legal spend by 50% and filing patents in under 24 hours
SAN FRANCISCO – Jan 26, 2026 – The traditional IP law firm model is broken. In house IP teams are being asked to support faster innovation cycles without increasing costs, despite law firm fees for drafting and prosecution reaching record levels. Today, Tradespace is dismantling that model. The company announced a $15 million Series A funding round led by AVP to scale its AI-native IP platform – the first solution that allows enterprises to take control of their full IP lifecycle. Existing investors Eniac Ventures, Amplo VC, and Scrum Ventures also participated in the round.
For decades, in-house IP leaders have been forced to make a difficult trade-off: file fewer patents to save money, or burn through budget on routine filings. Tradespace eliminates this compromise. By integrating AI directly into the R&D workflow, Tradespace streamlines patent development – from invention harvesting to application drafting – allowing in-house attorneys to operate with the speed of a tech company while maintaining legal rigor.
The IP Law Firm Model is Fundamentally Broken
“The billable hour acts as a tax on innovation, forcing companies to decide which ideas to protect based on budget rather than merit,” said Alec Sorensen, CEO and Co-Founder of Tradespace. “Even when law firms have moved to fixed fees, companies have had to pay in other ways, whether in increased costs on the backend for prosecution or lower speed and quality. Our platform allows IP teams to recapture their budget and operate with the speed of a software company, not a law firm.”
Tangible Value, Not Just Hype
Unlike “copilot” tools that simply draft text faster, Tradespace operates as an end-to-end IP Management Platform. Its embedded AI workflows empower IP teams to harvest new innovations, search for prior art, draft patents, respond to office actions, and even run licensing campaigns, while keeping attorneys in the loop to produce work that rivals senior partners.
The results are immediate:
- 50% reduction in outside counsel spend
- 40% increase in invention disclosures from R&D teams
- Time-to-file compressed from weeks to days
“In-house teams are tired of the administrative trap. They want to be strategic architects, not invoice approvers,” said Manish Agarwal, General Partner at AVP. “Tradespace is the first company to successfully close the gap between software and legal services, giving corporations ownership of the entire process. We believe this platform will become the standard operating system for the Global 2000.”
Market Dominance
The platform currently manages over 440K patents for over 80 organizations, including Fortune 500 tech giants and 75% of top US research universities. The Series A follows Tradespace’s November 2025 acquisition of Paragon Patents, cementing Tradespace’s technical lead in Agentic workflows and AI-driven patent drafting
About Tradespace
Tradespace is the first end-to-end IP Management Platform designed to replace the billable hour with AI automation. By combining a secure system of record with proprietary, attorney-grade drafting technology, Tradespace empowers in-house teams to take control of the IP lifecycle – from invention disclosure to filing – without relying on inefficient outside counsel. Trusted by top universities and Fortune 500s, Tradespace is defining the future of intellectual property. For more information, visit tradespace.io.
About AVP
AVP is an independent global investment platform focused on high-growth technology companies, ranging from deep tech to tech-enabled, across Europe and North America. The firm manages more than €2.5 billion in assets across four strategies: venture, early growth, growth, and fund of funds. Its multi-stage platform combines global research with local execution to drive investment. Since its establishment in 2016, AVP has invested in more than 60 technology companies and in over 60 funds through its Fund of Funds strategy. Beyond providing capital, AVP’s dedicated expansion team works closely with founders, offering expertise, connections and resources needed to unlock growth opportunities, and create lasting value through meaningful collaborations.
