Investors now test whether startup patents guard what rivals cannot rebuild
Investors examining European startups now ask whether patents protect the part of a business competitors cannot rebuild, not whether patents exist. European startups raised €21.45 billion, about $24 billion, in the second quarter of 2026, per Crunchbase, yet 65 percent went to 42 companies raising €90 million or more. The EUIPO and the EPO linked early patent applications to a 6.4 times higher likelihood of later funding.
Among startups seeking capital, the weak patent portfolio is rarely an empty one. It is one built for the wrong moment: claims written around the product as it looked on filing day, or drafted in haste the week before a data room opens. Such filings answer the deadline rather than the business the founders intend to build, and six months later they guard a feature that no longer matters.
Source: EU-Startups · October 14, 2026