As part of its credit underwriting process, HSBC UK works with specialist IP services firm Inngot. Applicants use its online valuation tool, Goldseam and Sollomon, to quickly and easily identify and then obtain an indicative valuation for their IP and other intangible assets.

Steve Roberts, CFO/COO of Glasswall, says the idea of a lender taking security over specific, identified IP, as opposed to a general charge over all assets, was new to him, but made perfect sense. He also recognised that HSBC was using Inngot and its tools to provide its lending team with “a third-party view on the actual IP valuation, which will give them some comfort over the security charge that’s contained within the loan.”

Inngot’s online platform helps a company map the complexities and inter-relationships between its IP and intangible asset portfolios using the Goldseam tool to build an IP profile. The output from Goldseam, plus easily-accessible financial and market data from company accounts and business plans, is then fed into Sollomon to produce indicative IP valuations in language that lenders and investors can easily understand and that gives them the comfort they need to make an offer.

When it came to using Inngot’s tools, Steve Roberts says “I found the platform very intuitive. The way we were led through each of the stages, the information that was captured, throughout I could see that the Inngot platform was asking for the key data points, and you could see the logic of all the questions and that the system has been designed to capture enough information without being over-bearing in terms of the amount of data.”

He adds that the IP valuation didn’t just cover Glasswall patents, trade marks and copyright: the company also has considerable expertise in “the way we can scale our technology – that’s something we have worked on considerably in recent years, and we’ve made massive strides. We can now deal with petabytes and petabytes of data. So we’re very much aware we’re making advancements in our technology that sometimes don’t fall into the patentable area. We’ll patent what we can, but obviously we’re still going to develop and improve our technology and protect that the best way you can in terms of confidentiality and trade secrets.”

With the help of Inngot’s IP evaluation tools, Glasswall, a dynamic, innovative company was able to use its IP to obtain vital funding from HSBC to move to the next phase of growth.