Stilta
AI agent that finds and monetizes patents companies forgot they had.
On the record
Checkpoint: 12-month window to convert named pilots into paying contracts and validate the 3x recall claim
The call
Stilta launched into a real problem months after a better-funded rival already shipped the same fix and started collecting customers.
Stilta builds software that uses AI to help lawyers find and organize patents for court cases. The company says its AI is three times better at finding relevant patents than ChatGPT or other general AI tools, and it can pull in historical data from the Wayback Machine. However, a competitor called Solve Intelligence already launched similar software, has raised $55 million, serves over 400 customers, and is profitable. Big tech companies like OpenAI could also build legal search tools, and patent law firms might just use ChatGPT or Claude instead of paying for Stilta. The one thing that could turn this around: if Stilta can convince its trial customers to actually pay and keep paying, and if it can prove that its AI really is much better at finding patents than rivals, it might survive by focusing on a narrower market like helping companies find old patents they can sell rather than helping lawyers in court.
Why
01
AI pressure: General-purpose LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity. General models could add legal-search features, but litigation work needs auditable, source-backed output they don't yet provide. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Solve Intelligence. Solve Intelligence raised more, shipped first, turned profitable, and already serves 400+ customers in the same claim-charting workflow. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. Named enterprise and law-firm pilots (Roche, Maersk, Alfa Laval) create workflow lock-in if they convert to paying, renewing contracts.
What would change this call
Stilta converts named pilots (Roche, Maersk, Alfa Laval) into paying, renewing contracts within 12 months. Shows Stilta can hold customers against Solve Intelligence rather than lose them post-pilot.
Solve Intelligence reports or is reported to have retained and expanded its 400+ customer base through 2026. Confirms Solve is locking in the litigation claim-charting workflow before Stilta scales.
Stilta announces a pivot to corporate dormant-patent monetization or a Series A tied to that wedge. Signals Stilta is avoiding head-to-head competition with Solve in litigation claim-charting.
Solve Intelligence reports or is reported to have retained and expanded its 400+ customer base through 2026. Confirms Solve is locking in the litigation claim-charting workflow before Stilta scales.
Stilta announces a pivot to corporate dormant-patent monetization or a Series A tied to that wedge. Signals Stilta is avoiding head-to-head competition with Solve in litigation claim-charting.
Key numbers
- $10.5M seed led by a16z
- Team of 4, growing to ~10 in 3-6 months
- Solve Intelligence: $55M raised, 400+ customers
Named risks
- Better-funded, profitable competitor Solve Intelligence shipped the same claim-charting workflow months earlier.
- No disclosed revenue or ARR as of May 2026, unclear conversion of pilots to paying customers.
- Data/workflow moat (Wayback integration, licensed literature) explicitly described as thin and replicable.
- Tiny team (4 employees) scaling to 10 in 3-6 months while opening a New York office.
- Named customer logos (Roche, Maersk, Alfa Laval) sourced from an aggregator profile, unverified independently.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Solve Intelligence | losing to | Solve shipped competing 'Charts' product Dec 2025, profitable with 400+ customers, before Stilta's Feb 2026 launch |
| Patlytics | contesting | Patlytics named by Stilta CEO as direct competitor, $21M raised, customers include Google, as of Jan 2026 |
| PatSnap/PatSeer (legacy vendors) | contesting | Legacy IP-intel vendors could add AI features, no structural barrier prevents them entering the space |
| Frontier LLMs (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity) | contesting | Stilta benchmarks itself against them, claiming 3x recall as of May 18, 2026, but no dedicated legal product shipped by them yet |
Questions people ask
- Is Stilta profitable in 2026?
- No. Stilta has disclosed no revenue or ARR figures as of its May 19, 2026 seed announcement. It is a four-person, seed-stage startup that just raised $10.5 million led by a16z, with no public path to profitability disclosed yet.
- Who is Stilta's biggest competitor?
- Solve Intelligence, named directly by Stilta CEO Oskar Block. Solve raised a $40M Series B in December 2025 (total $55M), claims 400+ customers, reports 10x ARR growth and profitability, and launched its own claim-charting product 'Charts' before Stilta's February 2026 public launch.
- Could ChatGPT or Claude replace Stilta?
- Stilta claims (self-reported, unverified) about 3x the recall of general-purpose LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity on patent invalidity search, per a May 18, 2026 report. No frontier lab has shipped a dedicated patent-litigation product as of that date.
- Who owns or funds Stilta?
- Stilta is privately founder-owned and venture-backed. On May 19, 2026 it announced a $10.5 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Y Combinator and angel investors from Sana, Legora, OpenAI, Lovable, and Listen Labs participating.
- What does Stilta actually do?
- Stilta builds agentic AI software for patent work, starting with litigation tasks like invalidity search, infringement, and freedom-to-operate analysis, and aims to help companies rediscover and monetize dormant patent portfolios, per its Y Combinator W26 profile.
- How much money has Stilta raised?
- Stilta has raised $10.5 million in a single seed round, announced May 19, 2026, led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Y Combinator and several angel investors. No prior funding rounds or valuation were disclosed.
Timeline
- 2026-05-19Stilta announces $10.5M seed round led by a16z, with YC and angel participation
- 2026-05-18Stilta discloses vendor-claimed 3x recall advantage over general LLMs in press coverage
- 2026-02-09Stilta publicly launches on Y Combinator's Launch page as 'Cursor for Patent Practitioners'
- 2026-01-01Stilta participates in Y Combinator Winter 2026 (W26) batch
- 2025-12-09Rival Solve Intelligence raises $40M Series B, launches competing 'Charts' product
- 2025-12-01Stilta founded by four ex-McKinsey/QuantumBlack engineers in Stockholm
Revision history
27 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- AI-Powered Patent Startup Stilta Announces $10.5M Seed Funding Round (2026-05-19)
- Stilta raises $10.5M from a16z and YC to help companies rediscover the patents they forgot they had (2026-05-19)
- Stilta - LegalTech Startup, $11M Raised (2026-05-15)
- Stilta, A Swedish Startup Bringing Agentic AI To Patent Litigation, Raises $10.5M Seed Led By Andreessen Horow (2026-05-18)
- Launch YC: Stilta: Cursor for Patent Practitioners (2026-02-09)
- AI Patent Startup Stilta Secures $10.5 Million in Seed Funding (2026-05-19)
- Solve Intelligence Raises $40M Series B to Build AI for Patents and Launches Charts (2025-12-09)
- Solve Intelligence vs Patlytics (2026) (2026-01-02)
- Stilta: Agentic AI for intellectual property