Paris, March 8, 2021 – Questel announced today that it has agreed to acquire NovumIP, a group comprised of PAVIS and Novagraaf. The private equity firm that launched NovumIP, Paragon Partners, will become an investor in Questel, as a mark of its confidence in the market potential of Questel with its new additions. The parties anticipate that the closing will take place on or around July 2021, subject to definitive approval from the relevant financial supervisory and competition authorities. PAVIS and Novagraaf joined forces in 2019 to provide clients with a wider range of IP advisory, administration and technology-led services. The collaboration was sparked by recognition of the importance placed by IP owners and their advisers on having access to a single, go-to resource for all their IP needs, including both commercially-focused legal & consulting and tech-enabled IP services. Moving forward, the companies’ shared vision is to further integrate knowledge and technology in order to offer clients a new way of managing their IP through tech-enabled delivery of services.
March 24, 2021 – Questel, one of the world’s largest end-to-end intellectual property solutions providers, has acquired Morningside, a leading IP and language services company. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in New York, Morningside specializes in patent translation and foreign filing solutions as well as legal, life sciences, and corporate compliance language services. With a global presence of 250 employees, Morningside leverages its industry-leading IP Platform to help clients seamlessly reach new markets while doing more with their budget. Morningside has over 4,000 clients in 55 countries including many Global 500 companies, law firms, and regulatory bodies. The acquisition is part of Questel’s strategy to act as a one-stop-shop for all of its clients’ IP needs. Since Morningside is one of the largest patent translation companies in the world, the acquisition consolidates Questel’s position as a leading IP translation provider. Morningside also has a major global law firm presence which will allow Questel to significantly expand and diversify its customer base.
January 19, 2021 – Questel announces the acquisition of the majority stake of innosabi GmbH, an Innovation Management platform based in Munich, Germany, with 55 employees. innosabi provides a single software solution to develop and market innovations faster. innosabi helps companies establish a new culture of innovation that motivates employees, connects the know-how and helps make informed decisions by using intelligent analysis mechanisms in the selection and prioritization of ideas.
January 14, 2021 – Questel announces the acquisition of doeLEGAL, an Enterprise Legal Management and eDiscovery legal technology company based in Wilmington, Delaware, with 50 years of experience. doeLEGAL’s mission is to provide clients with control over their cases and costs in order to make better-informed decisions. Questel has built a true end-to-end integrated platform of software and services addressing all the Intellectual Property needs and already covers more general legal needs such as invoice and cost management, which are very synergetic with ELM solutions.
August 31, 2020 – Questel announces the acquisition of RenewalsDesk Limited, a patent annuity innovative company based in the UK and founded in 2013 by patent attorneys. The mission of RenewalsDesk is to bring honesty and transparency to the IP Renewals sector, for all clients, regardless of their portfolio size. John Keogh, CEO, and his team will remain on board and join the fast growing Questel group. With this acquisition, Questel accelerates its successful strategy of transforming IP industry by providing centralized, secure, and cost-effective IP services across the entire innovation lifecycle.
February 27, 2020 – AboutInnovation.com is a French Legaltech startup cofounded in 2016 by the Saint Aubin brothers, Thomas and Baptiste, who developed a SaaS collaborative system for building and managing IP portfolios. It specifically targets small and medium-sized companies with its exceptionally easy-to-use interface and a smooth implementation process. “Surprisingly, most companies still rely exclusively upon software hosted by their outside counsel, rather than using a dedicated IP management solution” says Charles Besson, Questel CEO. “This approach blinds these companies to the business side of their IP portfolios, making them unable to efficiently manage, monitor, and analyze their intangible assets.” AboutInnovation will be renamed Orbit Capture and will enrich the Questel SaaS suite for IP and Innovation.
January 31, 2020 – Questel announces the acquisition of NRI Cyber Patent, a Tokyo based company founded in 1998 by the Nomura Research Institute which specializes in SaaS solutions for Intellectual Property. This is Questel’s third acquisition in Japan to advance its strategy of both reinforcing its Japanes presence and enriching its Intellectual Asset Management portfolio. “As icing on the cake, Cyber Patenthas the world’s most complete Japanese patent data” said Charles Besson, Questel CEO, “something that will enhance the quality of our international databases and business intelligence SaaS solutions.”
July 16, 2019 – Questel, one of the world’s largest intellectual property software and service providers, has signed an agreement to acquire Direct Validation. Founded in 1988 and based in Stockholm (Sweden), Direct Validation is a major player in EP validations services, the process of registering granted European patents in the countries where they will ultimately be enforceable.
June 17, 2019 – Questel, one of the world’s largest intellectual property software and service providers, has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Yoomap, a leader in open innovation software. Founded in 2014 and based in Paris (France) with over 30 employees, Yoomap delivers effective Open-Innovation solutions. These solutions provide Yoomap clients with a unique way to manage ideation processes, as well as innovation relationships between well-heeled corporations and startups. This acquisition, following the Expernova investment a few months ago, is part of Questel’s strategy to link it’s one-stop-shop intellectual property suite to the innovation market.
May 17, 2019 – Questel, one of the world’s largest intellectual property software and service providers, has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Brandstock, an international player in IP Services. Founded in 1993 and based in Munich (Germany), Brandstock leverages their advanced technology platform to provide the highest quality services in the most cost-effective manner for trademark searches and filings, IP maintenance fee payments, IP costs benchmarking, data verification, brand protection, portfolio management and IP recordals. Led by its founder, Volker Spitz, and supported by over 140 employees, Brandstock serves 400 clients globally. This acquisition is part of Questel’s ongoing strategy to build a one-stop-shop offering in the areas of IP and innovation. Brandstock’s trademark filing service is highly synergetic with Questel’s international patent filing service. With the Brandstock acquisition, Questel achieves an annual turnover of c. M€ 150 and 700 worldwide employees, firmly establishing itself as a global leader in the IP industry.
