Seattle startup TurboPatent raises $1.4M to expand patent automation capabilities – GeekWire

(TurboPatent Photo)

Seattle startup TurboPatent has raised $1.45 million in a convertible note as it gets ready to release the second version of some products and expand its documentation automation capabilities.

TurboPatent focuses on corporations and law firms of all sizes, automating taskslike formatting or document preparation, for example, freeing up people to work on more complex, high-value work. The service is designed to cut costs, save time and lead to more accurate patent documentation.

The 25-person company said it has the same impact on the patent industry as CAD (computer-aided drafting) did for engineering, the cloud for IT infrastructure, and robotics for manufacturing.

The latest funding comes from existing institutional, strategic, and founder investors as well as new private investors. The company raised its first outside funding in 2015,a $2 million seed round led byVoyager Capital.

TurboPatent recently released a new automation product, SmartShell, that helps paralegals speed up responding to office actions and reduces human error.

Formerly known as Patent Navigation, TurboPatent boasts an experienced team led by co-founders James Billmaier and Charles Mirho. Billmaier was previously CEO of Melodeo, a cloud-based media platform company that sold to HP in 2010. He also teamed up with Paul Allen in 1999 to launchhome-entertainment technology company Digeo, which was eventually sold in 2009 to ARRIS Group Inc.

Mirho, meanwhile, is a patent law veteran, having worked as a patent counsel at Intel and later as a managing partner of a patent law firm. He also has a computer science degree from Rutgers.

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Seattle startup TurboPatent raises $1.4M to expand patent automation capabilities - GeekWire