How Digip Reduces the Cost of Trademarks for Entrepreneurs

Every business cares about securing their intellectual property, but securing a brand can often be costly and time-consuming, causing significant problems for small and medium-sized businesses. Swedish startup Digip, which today announced the completion of a $3.4 million seed funding round, claims to have the answer.

“We wanted to make it easier for entrepreneurs and founders to register their trademarks,” says Viktor Johansson, CEO and co-founder of Digip. "An open and transparent digital process gives them the assurance they need that their brand is protected."

Traditionally, companies seeking trademark services have paid specialist consultants or legal firms for the time required to complete the required work. The problem with this for start-ups and start-ups is that the costs are limitless; in a time when money is often tight, they don't know in advance how much it will cost them to protect their critical intellectual property.

Digip therefore takes a different approach. For a fixed annual subscription agreed in advance – and starting at €200 for companies with simple business – customers benefit from three services in one. First, they can use Digip's platform to research their proposed trademark - to check if another company has already used it or something similar, for example. Then, Digip will then manage the application process, in liaison with the competent authorities. And finally, companies can use the platform to continuously monitor their brand protection - to check that another company isn't trying to register something similar, for example.

The service is delivered through a digital interface that businesses can visit as they wish to track progress and receive updates. The goal, says Johansson, is to challenge the established business model in a €150 billion global brand market.

"A company typically spends a four-figure amount on a brand search and waits weeks for results," says Johansson. "We've already transformed that experience for users who report average savings of 80% on brand management costs and reduce a substantial amount of their workload using the platform and services." In one case, Digip reduced a client's branding costs by about $400,000, he says.

Since opening its doors to customers last year, Digip has signed up over 500 paying customers, ranging from small start-ups to large enterprises with substantial revenues. These latter customers face the same branding challenges as small businesses, Johansson points out.

It is important to note that the service is largely independent of geography. Digip's existing customers come from over 40 different countries, all of whom access its platform digitally.

While countries naturally have different legal systems, Digip's international business model is based on common trademark standards. In the European Union, all 27 member states follow the same rules and application process, while the UK - currently Digip's largest market - still adheres to something very similar. Other markets around the world accept common standards set by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

With the company's revenue poised to triple in the current fiscal year, Digip's focus now is on accelerating its growth trajectory. One possibility is partnering with other players in the industry – law firms, trademark consultants and research consultants, for example – who might be interested in integrating its technology into their own services. The company also plans to continue its geographic expansion and focus more on sales and marketing.

Today's funding round will certainly help in this regard. Digip raised $1.3 million in additional seed funding to add to the $2.1 million it raised earlier in the year. The round was led by venture capital firms Industrifonden and Seed X, with participation from a number of family offices and angel investors from Stockholm's start-up ecosystem.

“The legal industry has been slow to embrace technology, leaving traditional players behind,” says Tore Tolke, senior investment manager at Industrifonden. "However, Digip demonstrates incredible potential and demand for its services continues to grow."