California Startup Brainbase Building Breakthrough Online IP Licensing Platform

Brainbase, a California tech startup with a team in Estonia, has received US$1M in seed funding to build an “end-to-end product ecosystem for intellectual property licensing” that could change the way businesses manage and licence their brands worldwide. The investment is an indication of dynamic evolution in the IP sector as it takes advantage of latest technologies and the talents of innovators.

The Los Angeles-based company’s debut product is Brainbase Assist, a tool that allows companies to manage collaboration, sales and royalty reporting, smart contracts, secure digital assets, and a range of advanced analytics on metrics such as sales performance and rights availability.

In addition, the company today announced a new platform called Marketplace that makes it possible for licence-holders and licensees to “showcase their brands and products and close new licensing deals entirely online – from search and discovery, initial inquiry, standardized licensing agreements, deal signing, royalty payments and license management.”

The company has already signed up some major corporate and university names for the new service. They are working with major venture capitalists, and have consulted closely with top industry lawyers on development of model contracts and other issues.

In a demonstration seen by Intellectual Property Watch, the high-tech platform offered bright product displays tailored to vetted clients in a legally sound environment, making it easy to shop for and market appropriate brand opportunities and close deals easily. Within a secure process protecting their brands and data, companies can manage inquiries from known prospects and take them forward to IP and licensing agreements. And advanced metrics give companies elaborate information about performance in real time.

“We are building an end-to-end product ecosystem that gives companies new ways to manage and monetize their intellectual property through licensing,” Nate Cavanaugh, co-founder and CEO of Brainbase, said in a statement.

The licensing industry has shown dissatisfaction with existing options and wants new ways to grow their businesses, he said. “This funding will allow us to continue scaling our products, starting with Assist and Marketplace, and to begin exploring future verticals as part of our broader full-stack strategy.”

Today’s press release from Brainbase is reprinted below:

Brainbase Raises $1M to Build a Full-Stack Licensing Technology Platform, Announces Marketplace 

LOS ANGELES, February 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ 

Brainbase, a Los Angeles-based technology startup that is building an end-to-end product ecosystem for intellectual property licensing, announced a $1M seed round on Monday. The round was led by Tera Ventures, with participation from Sterling Road and several angel investors including Severin Hacker, Andrew Rabin and Hamid Barkhordar.

Funds will be used to continue developing the company’s debut product, Brainbase Assist, a tool for brands and licensees to manage and automate the licensing process. Brainbase Assist is the first out-of-the-box licensing management tool that enables companies to bring licensed products to market faster with powerful collaboration tools, sales and royalty reporting, smart contract management, secure digital asset management and analytics on important metrics like sales performance and rights availability.

The company also announced Marketplace on Tuesday, a revolutionary new flagship platform that enables licensors and licensees to showcase their brands and products and close new licensing deals entirely online – from search and discovery, initial inquiry, standardized licensing agreements, deal signing, royalty payments and license management.

“We are building an end-to-end product ecosystem that gives companies new ways to manage and monetize their intellectual property through licensing,” explained Nate Cavanaugh, co-founder and CEO of Brainbase. “What we continue to see across the licensing industry is companies dissatisfied with the status quo and hungry for better ways to grow and manage their business. This funding will allow us to continue scaling our products, starting with Assist and Marketplace, and to begin exploring future verticals as part of our broader full-stack strategy.”

The company has already signed up a number of globally recognized brands including Shell, Kelloggs, Technicolor, J.D. Power, Billboard, Electrolux, Entrepreneur Magazine, Ohio State University, University of Utah and over a dozen leading agencies and licensees.

“We are excited to be part of Brainbase’s mission to bring efficiency to and expand the licensing market.” wrote Stanislav Ivanov, Founding Partner at Tera Ventures. “We are also eager to support a young and accomplished Brainbase founding team, notably American and Estonian by background.”

About Brainbase 

Founded in 2016 by Nate Cavanaugh, Karl Johan Vallner and Nikolai Tolkatshjov, Brainbase is a Los Angeles and Tallinn-based technology startup building an IP licensing ecosystem that helps companies discover, connect, grow, transact and manage.

 

Image Credits: Brainbase, Brainbase