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Where Are GSA Startups Heading? Insight From Recent Patent Filings With QuantIP | Exclusive Data — Founder Interview

Updated: Apr 8

This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.com/startuprad-io), and was moved to this blog with the relaunch of our website in summer 2024.

What Is This About?

Patent filings reveal where startups are actually investing R&D — not just where they claim to be heading. Exclusive data from QuantIP shows which technologies and sectors DACH startups are actively protecting with intellectual property, offering a forward-looking signal of innovation trends across the region.

Executive Summary

  • This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.

  • Get exclusive insights into the latest patent filings of GSA/DACH startups.

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Where Are GSA Startups Heading? Insight From Recent Patent Filings With QuantIP | Exclusive Data — Founder Interview Startuprad.io brings you independent coverage of the key developments shaping the startup and venture capital landscape across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.com/startuprad-io), and was moved to this blog with the relaunch of our website in summer 2024.


Executive Summary

Get exclusive insights into the latest patent filings of GSA/DACH startups. Discover where they’re going and what impact they may have on your business. QuantIP is an analytics company that offers data and analytics on patent data and, for us, went through 460 categories and more than 16.000 patent filings. With their tools, we get you an exclusive insight into the patent filings of 2022. Tune in to learn more about the industries and areas startups are filing patents in.

Patent databases are the best man-made databases that ever existed. … a collection of all potential economically viable technical information, collected over the last 200 years.Lucas von Reuss, CEO and co-founder QuantIP

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If you look at companies like Apple, most of the value creation has moved into intangible assets, and a big part of it are patents.Lucas von Reuss, CEO and co-founder QuantIP

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Part of the success of a company can be forecasted with their patent and patent filings. There are a lot of other important factors, depending on the industry, but for many future industries patents play a big role.Lucas von Reuss, CEO and co-founder QuantIP

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The Audio Interview

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Patents are a very hard read. The main purpose of the filing entity is to protect their IP in a way that no one can really figure out how to reproduce it.Lucas von Reuss, CEO and co-founder QuantIP

The Founder

Lucas von Reuss (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucasvonreuss/) is the CEO and co-founder of QuantIP. He held multiple positions, including in journalism, before co-founding the startup. His positions include editor-in-chief at €uro, a magazine for sophisticated private and professional investors (a German equivalent of Barron’s Finance and Investing News). He also held positions with Axel Springer Financial Media before. He was always working around investing and asset management. He holds degrees from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU), Axel Springer School for Journalism, and an MBA from Stockholm School of Economics.


The Startup

QuantIP (https://quant-ip.com/) is a Munich-based big data startup, exclusively focused on patent analytics. The startup is already closing in on breaking even in the next 6–12 months already.

QuantIP currently offers three products.

  • Data feeds tailored to the needs of systematic and quantitative equity investors.

  • Thematic search tailored to themed-driven asset managers, e.g., deal sourcing.

  • The pre-produced company reports on companies, available via platforms like capital iq from S&P, or AlphaSense


Exclusive Data

QuantIP went deep into its database with more than 16.000 patents and dug through to find the 2022 filings from startup companies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Large companies file many patents, and there are somewhere between two and three million every year. This report defines startups as companies that filed their first patent before 2018. They also have only 3–9 inventions (an invention is a novel idea, and the patent is only the protection of it so that an invention can be patented in several markets).

For 2022 we look at almost 8.000 patent filings from a bit over 1.500 startups for GSA/DACH:



The different startup ecosystems are pretty different in size, but what is surprising is that, on average, a startup filed more than five patents.


Top Five Categories for Patent Applications from Startups in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 2022

  • Analyzing material properties is vastly different, but the majority is attributable to biotech, but you can also think about materials for windmills.

  • For example, medical preparation can be associated with detecting sicknesses, e.g., cancer detection.

  • Digital data processing is a giant field with applications ranging from biotech to self-driving cars, AI, and many more. Many filings here come from large companies, e.g., for Germany SAP.

  • Optical elements and systems can be associated with lasers, but the vast growth in applying optical sensors is in sensor technology, like autonomous vehicles, drones, and similar devices.

  • Shaping technologies also include many fields such as nanotechnology or 3d printing, but also all the precision tools GSA is famous for.

The applications are generally rising, and some categories are growing strongly across the patent data set.


In Switzerland, patents related to biotechnology reign supreme, but many large companies are located in the country. This could be just talent leaving larger companies and starting their biotech startup, including filing for patents.

Germany and Austria look more similar here since most patent filings can be included in emission reduction or energy efficiency.

Top Rising Categories for Patent Applications from Startups in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in 2022

In Switzerland, patents related to biotechnology reign supreme, but many large companies are located in the country. This could be just talent leaving larger companies and starting their biotech startup, including filing for patents.

Germany and Austria look more similar here since most patent filings can be included in emission reduction or energy efficiency.


Top Categories for Patent Applications from Startups in Germany in 2022


Top Categories for Patent Applications from Startups in Switzerland in 2022


Top Categories for Patent Applications from Startups in Austria in 2022

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The Interviewer

This interview was conducted by Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder, and host of Startuprad.io. Reach out to him:


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Topics Discussed in this Interview

In this interview, we are talking about


Key Takeaways

  • QuantIP analyzed over 16,000 patents from its database and found nearly 8,000 patent filings from over 1,500 DACH startups in 2022, providing a unique data-driven view into where innovation is heading in the region.

  • On average, a DACH startup files multiple patents, indicating a strong IP-driven innovation culture — especially in Germany and Austria, where emission reduction and energy efficiency dominate patent categories.

  • Switzerland's startup patent landscape is dominated by biotechnology, reflecting the country's strength in pharma and life sciences, while Germany and Austria show more similarity with a focus on cleantech and energy.

  • Patent filing categories are generally rising across the DACH region, with some categories growing strongly — providing leading indicators for future startup funding and market trends.

Atomic Answer

Entities

Companies

  • QuantIP — Patent analytics platform with 16,000+ patents in its database. Provides exclusive data on DACH startup patent filings and innovation trends.

Topics

  • Startup Patent Analytics — Using patent filing data as a leading indicator of innovation direction and startup ecosystem health.

  • Emission Reduction / Energy Efficiency — Top patent category for Germany and Austria startups in 2022.

  • Biotechnology Patents — Dominant category in Switzerland, reflecting pharma/life sciences strength.

  • IP Strategy for Startups — How patent filings reflect competitive positioning and innovation investment.

Countries

  • Germany — Largest startup patent filing volume; focus on emission reduction and energy efficiency.

  • Austria — Similar patent profile to Germany; cleantech and energy focus.

  • Switzerland — Biotechnology-dominant patent landscape; influenced by large pharma presence.

Relationship Map

  • QuantIP → DACH startups: Patent analytics provider mapping innovation across 1,500+ startups.

  • Germany/Austria → Cleantech patents: Emission reduction and energy efficiency as top filing categories.

  • Switzerland → Biotech patents: Biotechnology dominates, reflecting pharma ecosystem.

  • Patent filings → Funding trends: Rising patent categories serve as leading indicators for future VC investment.

Quote Highlights

  • "For 2022 we look at almost 8,000 patent filings from a bit over 1,500 startups for GSA/DACH." — QuantIP exclusive data shared with Startuprad.io.

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Startuprad.io is the leading independent media platform covering startups, venture capital, and innovation across the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Europe. We offer B2B partnership opportunities for companies looking to reach startup decision-makers, founders, and investors.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is QuantIP and what data do they provide?

QuantIP is a patent analytics platform that maintains a database of over 16,000 patents. For this exclusive collaboration with Startuprad.io, QuantIP analyzed patent filings from DACH startups in 2022, covering nearly 8,000 filings from over 1,500 startups across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Their data provides unique insights into where startup innovation is heading by tracking patent categories and filing trends.

What are the top patent categories for DACH startups?

The patent landscape varies by country within the DACH region. In Germany and Austria, emission reduction and energy efficiency are the dominant patent filing categories, reflecting the strong cleantech and sustainability focus. In Switzerland, biotechnology patents reign supreme, driven by the country's established pharma and life sciences ecosystem. Across all three countries, patent applications are generally rising, with some emerging categories showing particularly strong growth.

Why are startup patent filings a useful indicator?

Patent filings serve as a leading indicator for startup innovation and future investment trends. When startups file patents in a particular technology area, it signals both the company's competitive positioning and the broader direction of R&D investment. Rising patent categories often precede increased VC funding in those sectors. For investors and ecosystem analysts, patent data provides an objective, quantitative view of innovation that complements traditional metrics like funding rounds and valuations.

About the Host

Joern "Joe" Menninger is the host of the Startuprad.io podcast and covers founders, investors, and policy developments across the DACH startup ecosystem. Through more than 1,300 interviews and nearly a decade of reporting, he documents the evolution of the European startup landscape. Follow Joern on LinkedIn.

Shape the Conversation on Innovation and Deep Tech

Startuprad.io partners with selected companies that want to shape the conversation around innovation, deep tech, and intellectual property strategy in Europe. If that is relevant for your team, you can learn more here: Partner with Startuprad.io

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