Daniel Ruskin, a 26-year-old entrepreneur, has raised $2.4 million in pre-seed funding for his startup Inventex, which aims to revolutionize the patent filing process with an AI-powered platform. The Salt Lake City-based company uses a series of AI agents augmented by licensed attorneys to prepare and file patent applications, promising to get companies patent-pending 10x faster than traditional firms.

Ruskin's journey to founding Inventex is an impressive one. At just 14 years old, he began his career as an engineer at Coinbase, where he wrote much of the early software that powered the crypto exchange's platform. After four years at Coinbase, Ruskin went on to attend college and law school, starting a few startups along the way, including an election security company where he drafted and won a patent on its technology.

Frustrated with the opaque patent process, Ruskin launched Inventex in December 2024. The company's platform intakes technical data from customers, identifies what meets the legal requirements for patentability, and drafts and files patent applications on their behalf. Inventex's approach not only promises speed but also higher-quality patents, thanks to its technical-expert agents overseen by licensed attorneys.

The pre-seed funding round was led by Conviction Capital, Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, and Cambrian Ventures, with participation from Boost and others. The investment will be used to grow Inventex, which has already seen significant traction, with $250,000 of annual recurring revenue in the pipeline, including two publicly traded companies and numerous startups.

Ruskin's expertise in the fintech space is also noteworthy. He joined Checkr in 2022, where he helped start Checkr Pay, a neobank, and hired a team of engineers to build and launch the platform in just three to four months. Ruskin's experience at Checkr Pay led to his connection with Cambrian Ventures' solo GP Rex Salisbury, who described him as the company's "highest velocity engineer."

Inventex's closest competitors are patent drafting tools like Edge and Solve, but Ruskin believes his company's end-to-end service sets it apart. He's confident that Inventex has the right model to be innovative in this complex subset of legal services, and is considering offering its drafting toolkit as a white-labeled product for law firms in the future.

Looking ahead, Ruskin envisions a future where patent filing becomes more accessible to innovators of all sizes. He predicts that the cost to file a patent will decrease, and strategy will become the differentiated service provided by firms. With Inventex, Ruskin is poised to disrupt the traditional patent filing process and make it more efficient, faster, and cost-effective.

Inventex's growth has been impressive, with the company growing 2x per month since December primarily through word-of-mouth referrals and partnerships with VCs. With its AI-powered platform and experienced team, Inventex is well-positioned to revolutionize the patent filing industry and make a significant impact on the world of innovation.