The software company iPaladin, which is suing its competitor Orca over alleged patent infringement, recently sent notices to 12 additional companies that it believes may also have copied its system, and it has begun raising capital from investors.
The notice letters and fundraising, two material developments related to iPaladin and the expanding software ecosystem surrounding family offices, have not been previously reported.
iPaladin was incubated within a family office before it was established as a company in 2012 and began working with customers. Today, more than 160 family offices managing between $1 billion and $20 billion, along with some private trust companies, wealth management firms and law firms, use iPaladin to manage their documents, data, and operations.
In 2024, Florida-based iPaladin sued Orca, a competitor headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, alleging infringement of two patents granted in 2020 and 2023. Orca denies the allegations and, in a previous statement to Modus, co-founder and CEO Tomas Hurcik said the company is “vigorously defending” its interests and is confident in its position.
This year, the two parties have tangled in court over whether the case is valid and whether it can be tried by a Texas jury. Court filings this year effectively describe a deadlock between them. Mediation failed this fall and a trial is scheduled for November next year.
Jill Creager, the founder and CEO of iPaladin, declined to comment specifically on the case against Orca. But she confirmed that iPaladin has contacted a dozen more software companies that could be using its inventions without permission.
“We’ve issued notices of potential infringement to 12 other vendors to resolve boundary lines quickly. We’re diligently seeking the best outcomes for market evolution, and the public filings speak for themselves. A few have responded positively, and we anticipate speedy resolutions,” Creager told Modus.
Creager declined to share which companies iPaladin has sent notice letters to. The recipients could not be confirmed before this newsletter was sent. Several software companies are direct competitors to iPaladin or have added similar features.
The ongoing case against Orca and the letters to other companies could have implications for one another and for family-office software broadly. The resolution of the civil case — whether that happens in or out of court — could set a precedent that iPaladin can present to other potential patent infringers to whom it has sent letters. It’s also possible that some software companies that received notice letters acknowledge iPaladin’s patents and reach an agreement with the firm, likely through licensing.
iPaladin also has a third patent pending and is drafting a fourth patent.
While its Orca litigation continues and it confronts other software companies, iPaladin has also begun raising capital. The round is being led by family offices that use iPaladin, some of whom have previously invested in the business and some of whom are new, Creager said.
The company also plans to begin engaging venture capital firms early next year as strategic partners to help iPaladin “formalize growth systems and advance integrations, enabling continuous governance over generations.”
Creager declined to share how much money iPaladin planned to raise, or at what valuation. The company has been approached by inventors in the past, and the combination of its product and word-of-mouth growth makes it an attractive investment, Creager said. The software’s gross retention since 2015 is 97% and net revenue retention is 106%, she added.
New funding will also be used to continue developing its own artificial intelligence tool called AARK (AI-Assisted Refined Knowledge), which it plans to beta-release to its customers in January. Testing so far shows it can accurately ingest documents and automate governance controls for companies and trusts, reducing the cost of digitizing and establishing structures by 60%, and shortening the time to do that from months to weeks, according to the company.
“Family wealth is growing, complexity is soaring, and AI is here. There’s no time for vendor-infighting. Our three utility patents protect governance across complex structures,” Creager said.
“What we built is a governance architecture for clarity and confidence, a layer missing for decades amid the LLC, the trust boom of the 1990s, and the asset class explosion since then, while core systems remain rooted in the 1980s. iPaladin wasn’t early; the market was late, and AI will help everyone catch up.”
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