As global competition in science and technology intensifies and AI reshapes the global innovation ecosystem, patents are evolving from purely legal rights into core assets that can be valued, traded, and actively managed. In China, the release of top-level policy documents such as the Special Action Plan for Patent Commercialization and Utilization (2023-2025) has brought growing attention to patent commercialization and value realization. Demand among Chinese innovators for patent management and monetization services is also rising.
Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Paris, France, and Miami, United States, SIM IP positions itself as an outsourced patent monetization firm. In just two years, the company has built a track record that has attracted considerable market attention. Over the past 15 months, SIM IP completed 11 major patent acquisitions—an average of one every 45 days—and earlier this year acquired applied AI company Garden Intel for $150 million. SIM IP also stands apart from its peers by acting solely as principal, putting its own capital at risk, and offering flexible transaction structures.
IP Economy recently spoke with SIM IP Co-Founder and CEO Erich Spangenberg about the firm's business model and patent-screening criteria, the impact of AI on patent transactions and examination, changes in China's innovation environment, and the outlook for patent monetization. Spangenberg said that China has become a leading force in global innovation and that Chinese patents contain substantial value that remains to be unlocked.
Erich Spangenberg
IP Economy:
Good morning, Mr. Spangenberg. We understand that, before founding SIM IP in 2024, you had spent more than two decades working at the intersection of technology and intellectual property. As a principal, you participated in more than 1,000 private licensing transactions, generated over $1 billion in licensing revenue, and completed more than $2 billion in IP-related financing transactions. You also developed a patent acquisition model backed by your own capital and operated as a principal—an approach that is quite unusual in the industry. In practice, how does this model differ from those of traditional non-practicing entities (NPEs), consultancies, and patent funds?
Erich Spangenberg:
Good morning. I entered the patent field somewhat by accident. When I first entered the IP business in 2004, what surprised me most was that patents were viewed only through a legal lens, while I approached them from a finance and asset management perspective. At the time, I did not understand the rules, knew very little about IP law, and knew virtually nothing about how different jurisdictions around the world operated. Frankly, I also knew very little about patents themselves. But given my background, I quickly began to view patents as critically important financial assets.
Over the next few years, I systematically educated myself about patents, gradually getting up to speed on the relevant law and technology and thinking more deeply about the financial characteristics of IP assets. From 2004 to 2013, I was "long" patents; from 2013 to 2018, I went "short" patents. In 2023, when I saw the world changing again, my business partners and I decided to return to the IP space and build something new. We re-entered the industry because the macro changes in the market, compared with the 2004-2018 period, were exciting and, in our view, made patents even more important today.
What sets SIM IP apart is that we see ourselves as an outsourced patent monetization solution. Patent owners are the innovators: they develop ideas and obtain patents, but they sometimes struggle to determine what to do with those assets or how to monetize them. That is where we come in—we help them identify the best path to monetization.
How we monetize patents is another defining feature of our model. SIM IP puts its own capital to work alongside patent owners, sharing the risk and keeping our interests aligned. To date, we have completed more than 1,100 transactions, and we are particularly strong in the United States, Europe, and other major jurisdictions around the world.
IP Economy:
You have emphasized the importance of viewing IP as a financial asset. That idea is increasingly gaining market acceptance, and more participants are becoming involved in IP monetization. Over the past 15 months, SIM IP completed 11 major patent acquisitions—an average of one every 45 days—which is remarkable by any industry standard. What core capabilities enable the SIM IP team to identify, evaluate, and close transactions so quickly?
Erich Spangenberg:
There are really three things. First is our reputation. Second—and probably most important—is our exceptional team. Every member has been carefully selected for intelligence, motivation, skills, and a desire to be the best, and we then provide further training to make them even better.
The third factor, which is equally important, is technology. About nine months ago, SIM IP acquired Garden Intel, an agentic AI company, and that acquisition completely transformed what we can do. I often explain that when you combine a great team with powerful applied AI tools, you can operate a patent acquisition business at a scale and speed that were not possible five years ago. In the past, the analysis for a single portfolio acquisition could take six months, and none of the process was standardized. With AI, we can now operate on a roughly 45-day cycle. We expect that pace to continue accelerating, and our goal is ultimately to reduce the cycle to 30 days.
IP Economy:
What criteria does SIM IP apply when screening patent portfolios around the world? Many patent assets remain dormant on corporate balance sheets. What strategies has SIM IP developed to identify and monetize those assets and unlock their value?
Erich Spangenberg:
We run seven different tests—or screens—on every patent portfolio we consider. The three most important are validity, infringement, and exposure. If we do not believe a patent is valid, if we do not believe the patented technology is currently in use, or if we do not believe it has significant exposure, it is a no-go for us.
The good news is that our screening process is highly efficient. A patent owner can call or email us, provide the patent numbers, and explain their objectives, and within a few days we can say whether we are genuinely interested in moving forward. That speed matters to patent owners: they want a quick answer, not months of discussions that ultimately end in a no.
In terms of opportunity size, we look for projects representing at least $50 million in potential revenue. From a return-on-capital perspective, an opportunity generally needs to offer a return of five to eight times our investment to be attractive to us.
As for technologies and transaction structures, SIM IP has worked across 128 technology areas grouped into 12 main categories, with roughly 10 to 12 subfields in each. We can therefore cover a very broad range of technologies. We also offer three primary transaction structures, which is another way we differentiate ourselves from competitors. If an innovator wants an all-cash payment upfront, that is perfectly acceptable. If they prefer some cash upfront plus a share of future revenue, that works for us as well. If they want a full revenue-sharing arrangement under which we split the proceeds, we are happy to negotiate that too. Chinese patent owners sometimes prefer to sell their non-Chinese patent assets while retaining their Chinese rights, and we are entirely comfortable with such structures. We are highly confident that we can design a structure that works for both parties.
IP Economy:
As you noted, SIM IP acquired AI-based patent analytics company Garden Intel for $150 million this February. The transaction attracted considerable attention across the global IP community. Could you explain the strategic rationale behind the acquisition? Which parts of SIM IP's business have integrated Garden Intel's technology, and what improvements has it delivered so far?
Erich Spangenberg:
Certainly. A little background: we began using agentic AI in our patent business in late 2024. At the time, there were four leading companies in the field, and initially we used all four. During 2025, however, Garden Intel began to demonstrate a clear advantage. In November 2025, I met its two co-founders, and we put the transaction together very quickly. On the day the deal closed, we ended Garden Intel's relationships with all of its existing customers. Its engineers then turned their full attention to enhancing SIM IP's capabilities.
Today, Garden Intel—now rebranded as SIM AI—supports three core stages of our business. The first is origination: finding IP that interests us, an approach we call "spearfishing." The second is analyzing that IP. The third is execution and monetization after an acquisition. SIM AI now has an impact across the entire workflow in all three of these core areas.
The most visible benefit of SIM AI is speed. Work that typically takes close to 180 days in this industry can now be completed by SIM IP in 45 days. This is also partly because our counterparties can use AI tools to standardize how they review and process transaction documents. For both patent owners and SIM IP, the greatest benefit of AI today is improved efficiency.
IP Economy:
Let us turn to SIM IP's relationship with the Chinese market. We know that you established an office in Shanghai as early as 2004 and have remained connected with China's IP community for more than two decades. What is prompting SIM IP to place greater emphasis on the Chinese patent market today? How have the quality and commercial value of Chinese patent portfolios changed over the past 20 years, and which technology sectors in China do you believe offer the greatest potential?
Erich Spangenberg:
When I first came to China in 2004, the prevailing international view—though it was not necessarily accurate—was that China was accumulating patents very rapidly and in large volumes, but that they were generally of lower quality and reflected more incremental innovation. One statistic, however, astonished me: the number of STEM graduates China was producing in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I realized that what China needed was people capable of solving important technology problems. Within a few years, those STEM graduates would begin doing exactly that, enabling China to start leading in innovation.
Today, the continued improvement in the quality of Chinese patent portfolios has become a global consensus, and China has in fact emerged as a leader in global innovation. Talent is one reason. Economic globalization also gave Chinese innovators a more comprehensive view of which technologies mattered globally. More recently, changes in the geopolitical environment have pushed China toward indigenous development and import substitution in important technologies. These factors have all helped improve patent quality. Even more exciting is that innovation in China is no longer merely incremental; Chinese innovators are opening entirely new fields and making major advances in existing technologies. In SIM IP's view, China is now roughly on par with the United States in innovation. That is why we continue to focus on and invest in the Chinese market.
SIM IP works across a very broad range of technologies. In China, we are currently particularly interested in data centers, cloud computing, semiconductors, and health care. The work underway in China's life sciences and health-care sectors is especially remarkable. What is most extraordinary is that the innovation journey that took the United States 100 years took China only 40 years—or even less. It is a remarkable innovation story and a highly attractive innovation market.
IP Economy:
Our next question also relates to your international experience. You are American, currently live in Paris, and have also spent many years working and living in China. In your view, what have been the most important changes in the global IP system over the years?
Erich Spangenberg:
At the macro level, the most important change has been the shift in attitudes toward IP as a whole. At the micro level, it has been the emergence of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) in Europe and generative AI.
Let me explain. When I first entered the market, people did not truly understand the importance of patents. In the United States, for example, patents went through a period of being viewed quite negatively following the passage of the America Invents Act in 2011. That was part of the reason I went "short" patents at the time. China's story was somewhat different. I believe China appreciated the importance of patents all along; it simply needed to learn how to produce better ones, which it has now done. Overall, the global view of patents has changed. There is now a consensus across the United States, Europe, and Asia that patents matter.
At the micro level, I believe the most important recent development has been the UPC. People still do not fully appreciate its significance. It has created a lower-cost, faster judicial forum for innovators seeking to enforce and monetize their IP. Conditions in the United States have also improved significantly in recent years as a result of changes at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Overall, the current global patent environment is highly favorable to innovators at both the macro and micro levels. I am therefore very bullish on the global patent market over the next five to ten years.
IP Economy:
Looking ahead, the two-way relationship between generative AI and the global IP ecosystem cannot be ignored. The rise of generative AI has created new challenges for patent systems around the world. Do you believe it will fundamentally reshape the value proposition of patent assets?
Erich Spangenberg:
I believe the impact of generative AI will be felt in several areas. First, as examiners increasingly use generative AI tools in the examination process, the number of patents granted may decline because those tools will help examiners find prior art more efficiently. At the same time, however, the quality of the patents that are granted will improve significantly. I am entirely in favor of that.
People will also come to understand that, in a generative AI world, a government-granted right with a term of up to 20 years is an extremely durable asset. No matter how many ChatGPTs you throw at it, a patent will endure and continue to play an important role in the generative AI era.
IP Economy:
Indeed, obtaining patent grants is becoming increasingly difficult. At the same time, SIM IP's portfolio continues to expand. As of the end of 2025, SIM IP held 11 patent portfolios comprising more than 3,000 patent assets and had generated over $60 million in licensing revenue. In the first half of 2026, SIM IP completed three more landmark transactions: the acquisitions of Garden Intel and Capricode, and the acquisition of a patent portfolio from Alibaba Group. Looking ahead, what are SIM IP's core strategic priorities in the global and Chinese markets?
Erich Spangenberg:
SIM IP is now raising capital on an ongoing basis as we prepare to continue acquiring patent assets, and we expect the pace of acquisitions to accelerate further. At present, our sweet spot is investing between $5 million and $50 million in a transaction. We will probably remain primarily within that range for the foreseeable future, while occasionally adding an acquisition of $100 million, $200 million, or more. But we want to remain focused mainly on the range in which we have the greatest confidence.
China will be an extremely important market in SIM IP's plans over the next three years. In our projections for the remainder of 2026 and for 2027 and 2028, we have allocated substantial capital to acquisitions in China. If we speak again in 2028 and you find that SIM IP has invested $300 million to $500 million in China, you should not be surprised. That is the level of commitment we expect to make to the Chinese market over the next few years, because we see the opportunities here.
IP Economy:
You have just discussed SIM IP's plans for China. How would you most like Chinese stakeholders to understand SIM IP? What types of Chinese patent owners does SIM IP most hope to work with and build long-term relationships with?
Erich Spangenberg:
This goes back to a point I made earlier. We want Chinese innovators to view SIM IP as an outsourced patent monetization partner. Our interests are aligned with those of innovators: we invest our own capital alongside their IP, share the risk, and create and share value together. We are not here to compete with you; we are here to help you unlock additional working capital. SIM IP can help you monetize IP outside China—something we are extremely good at—and we look forward to working with you. If you are interested in SIM IP, you can find our contact details on our website or LinkedIn. Please email or call us, and let us start the conversation.
