RWM Capital announces the closing of stake acquisition in the Online Patent venture project. The project provides a service that facilitates the process of patenting, trademark registration and copyright protection.
In the current round the project is financed in the amount of $200.000, the funds are intended for verification of the selected business model and testing various marketing channels.
Less than in a year, the project team had made a journey from an idea to a working service. The idea of the Online Patent service was created in September, 2012. In January, 2013, the project won the Dev Generation contest 2012, carried out by Softline Venture Partners; the project team received their first funds for product development. In July, 2013, the Online Patent service was opened for public testing. In August, 2013, the commercial operation of service began. At the same time, Online Patent received the "AAA" - the highest start-up investment attractiveness rating from the Russian Start-up Index. At the end of 2013, the Online Patent project was included in the TOP 100 best projects selected within the framework of the first accelerator, launched by the Internet Initiatives Development Fund.
Users of the Online Patent service can create and send an application to Rospatent and, using their personal account, trace all the processes related to protection of intellectual property - from patents recordkeeping to reminders of the payment due dates. Besides, several educational blocks, offering virtual assistant, guide, automated search of analogues and other services are embedded into the Online Patent service. They allow raising the general level of users' professional knowledge in the field of intellectual property of protection and improving the quality of applications.
"We welcome the emergence of a new investor in the Online Patent shareholders' pool. RWM Capital will lend the service an additional financial hand, which will help the start-up make a focus on expansion of key functionality and marketing, said Elena Volotovskaya, the Head of Softline Venture Partners, besides, RWM Capital, just like any other competent investor, will bring smart money in the process of the Online Patent development and help open doors to new clients and service partners".
"The Online Patent team concentrated their efforts on facilitating and accelerating the process of intellectual property protection, commented Alexander Atamanov, founder of the service and director general of Online Patent LLC, in general, the active growth of intellectual property market requires more transparent and technological solutions - such as Online Patent. We hope to participate directly in the development of trend for intellectual property protection in Russia and in other markets".
"We have to admit that the market of intellectual property protection in Russia is still underdeveloped, especially when compared with countries like the U.S. and China, says Felix Blinov, Managing Director of RWM Capital Asset Management, we can see a lot of reasons for lagging, but the main ones are the lack of sufficient knowledge of authors about methods of intellectual property protection, and the process of sending applications to Rospatent, which is not quite convenient for inventors, businessmen and company founders. The Online Patent service is aimed at solving several problems simultaneously. We are sure that in long-term prospect its development will bring the market of intellectual property, and perhaps the innovation market in Russia, to a brand new level. At the moment, the key tasks facing the project team are verification of a business model and testing of various marketing channels. Initially, the project was aimed at b2c segment, i.e. individuals as well as small and medium business. However, it became clear in the course of testing that the history related to corporate patenting can be more effective. Now the company is already contacting with its first corporate clients with commercial proposals.
Of course, the project team is now facing very ambitious tasks, but I am sure, the guys who have made many successful projects, will manage to do it. We and our partner Softline Venture Partners, which has a deep IT-expertise, will help the team in every way we can in shaping the development strategy and, finally, turning this interesting project into a profitable business".
www.onlinepatent.ru
