Lightbringer selected as an EIC Partner, joining Europe's deep tech innovation ecosystem

MALMÖ, SWEDEN, September 16, 2026 - Lightbringer, the Swedish AI-native patent service transforming how startups and SMEs secure patents, has been named an official EIC Partner under the European Innovation Council's Ecosystem Partnership Programme, joining a select network of organisations delivering specialised services to Europe's most promising deep tech innovators. 

Lightbringer is now live on the EIC Service Catalogue, giving EIC-backed founders direct access to its platform and partially co-financed services at the earliest, most critical stage of building and scaling a company. 

Through the partnership, EIC-backed companies will be able to access Lightbringer’s AI-native patent services such as freedom-to-operate analysis, novelty searches, patent filing and IP portfolio management. These are particularly relevant to companies working in the EIC’s priority areas, including biotech, robotics, climate tech, hardware, and semiconductors. These sectors are strongly represented in the deep tech portfolio backed by the EIC, and Lightbringer has already developed significant expertise across each, reflected throughout its existing customer base. Founders accessing Lightbringer through the catalogue can also apply for co-financing through the EIC's ACCESS+ programme, up to €60,000 per beneficiary, equivalent to as much as five years of coverage at Lightbringer's standard pricing. 

The partnership comes as European deep tech companies face growing pressure to protect increasingly complex technologies while moving from research and development to commercialisation at speed. Lightbringer’s platform was built to address the limitations of the traditional patent model, combining AI with the oversight of qualified patent lawyers to reduce typical filing timelines from two months to just a couple of days and cut costs by around 50%.

Since launching in 2024, Lightbringer has helped more than 200 deep tech companies across 17 countries file and manage their patents globally, including critical infrastructure hardware specialist TERASi, defence drone component company Arctic Ravn, quantum sensing technology developer DIASENSE, and Cler, the Swedish clean-air technology company. 

Dominic Davies, CEO and co-founder of Lightbringer: "EIC-backed companies are developing technologies with enormous commercial potential, but protecting those innovations can be costly and time-consuming at precisely the stage when resources are most limited. We built Lightbringer to close that gap. This partnership will allow more of Europe’s most promising deep tech companies to protect their ideas earlier and build patent portfolios that actively support their growth.”

Founders accessing Lightbringer through the catalogue can also apply for partial co-financing of the cost through the EIC's ACCESS+ programme.

EIC ACCESS+ at a glance:

• Up to €60,000 in co-financing available for IP and legal services (Lightbringer's category)
• Covers up to 50% of the eligible service cost
• Part of a €3.45M fund supporting 180+ companies across Europe

ABOUT LIGHTBRINGER

Lightbringer is the AI-native patent service built for growing tech companies. By combining agentic AI with expert patent attorneys, Lightbringer makes patent protection faster, more strategic, and more accessible, without cutting corners on quality. The platform covers the full patent lifecycle, from AI-guided novelty searches through drafting, filing, office action responses, portfolio management, and competitor monitoring. AI agents work on founders' behalf to compress timelines, radically cutting filing time, while expert attorneys verify every patent before it's filed. Fixed, transparent pricing cuts costs by up to 50% compared to traditional patent counsel. Lightbringer serves companies at every stage of the IP journey, from first-time filers to scaleups managing growing portfolios, giving founders a strategic partner rather than a legal box to tick. Lightbringer operates from Malmö, Palo Alto, London, and Stockholm. Read more www.lightbringer.com 
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ABOUT EUROPEAN INNOVATION COUNCIL 

The European Innovation Council (EIC) has been established under Horizon Europe, with a budget of over €10 billion (2021-2027) to support game-changing innovations throughout their lifecycle, from early-stage research to market.

The EIC provides funding opportunities for companies in different stages of technological maturity through its instruments: EIC Pathfinder, EIC Transition and EIC Accelerator. These projects are selected through highly rigorous and competitive processes. EIC Accelerator projects can receive up to €2.5M in grant funding and are further eligible for up to €15M in direct equity investments from the EIC Fund. EIC innovators are also given access to the EIC Business Acceleration Services (BAS), which include coaching, mentoring and opportunities with corporates, procurers and investors.

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