Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Thursday, September 02 2021 - 03:28
AsiaNet
Litmaps closes $125K in seed-stage investment from Quidnet Ventures
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --

Litmaps, a Science software company based in Wellington, New Zealand has 
received NZ$125,000 in funding from Quidnet Ventures, a New Zealand-based 
venture capital fund with operations in Auckland, NZ, San Francisco and New 
York. Litmaps has built a research navigation platform that allows scientists, 
engineers, and other experts to more rapidly and deeply navigate peer reviewed 
research and patent literatures, accelerating breakthroughs and allowing them 
to work more effectively in R&D teams. The total size of Litmaps's seed round 
was $1M NZD, and was led by Icehouse Ventures.

Tools like Google Scholar and Scopus allow for basic academic search, but what 
Litmaps allows is domain experts such as scientists and engineers to dive into 
their field of expertise, and use data visualisation and network science tools 
to understand the full picture: how the research is evolving, what they might 
have missed, and where breakthroughs and commercial opportunities might exist. 
Litmaps helps accelerate research breakthroughs – from medicine to policymaking 
to space travel – with more efficient discovery of 200+ million published and 
peer-reviewed studies.

Quidnet Ventures is a seed and series-A fund that mentors and invests in 
early-stage startups based in New Zealand that aspire to have global impact. 
Quidnet's team consists of a group of experienced investors and advisors that 
can leverage their knowledge set to support Litmaps. Litmaps joins Quidnet 
Ventures's portfolio, consisting of Aider, Dawn Aerospace, Winely and 
MaramaLabs.

"With my original training in physics I can really appreciate the problem that 
Litmaps is solving. Both the world of academic research and that of industrial 
R&D will benefit from the company's solution," states Mark Bregman, Founder and 
General Partner of Quidnet Ventures.

Kyle Webster, CEO of Litmaps, states, "It's fantastic to have Quidnet on board. 
Litmaps sees real value and excellent strategic alignment in Quidnets expertise 
in R&D intensive companies and access to both North American, and other 
international markets."

Litmaps's research platform combines interactive citation maps, modern search 
tools, and models of a researchers' existing knowledge to create a more 
efficient research discovery experience to help accelerate scientific 
breakthroughs. Over 30,000 researchers worldwide, from public research 
organisations to development teams in science-heavy companies, have already 
used Litmaps.

Quidnet Ventures brings years of experience and a network of experts that are 
well aligned with Litmaps's strategic direction. Quidnet Ventures is capable of 
providing guidance on building Litmaps's product, and opening access to 
networks in the global R&D market for its newest portfolio company. Quidnet 
Ventures's involvement will accelerate the growth of Litmaps in the next phase 
of its journey.

About Quidnet Ventures: Quidnet Ventures [ 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3274757-1&h=709614777&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.quidnetventures.com%2F&a=Quidnet+Ventures 
] is a seed and series-A fund investing in New Zealand-based founders building 
impactful companies. Quidnet Ventures focuses on taking New Zealand innovation 
to the world and takes an active role in helping its portfolio companies 
succeed by leveraging its team's global, multi-sector network as its portfolio 
companies position themselves to enter international markets. Quidnet Ventures 
provides unrivaled access to a global network across academia, government 
affairs, venture capital and industry. The Quidnet Ventures team has worked in 
Europe, Japan, China, India and Australia; and 20+ years in New Zealand. Our 
partners and analysts have 150+ years of total experience in the international 
technology industries. The Quidnet Ventures team prides itself in leveraging 
its extensive experience to help its entrepreneurs work through many of the 
issues that the members of the team themselves have experienced.

About Litmaps: 
Litmaps [ 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3274757-1&h=3435075514&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.litmaps.co%2F&a=Litmaps 
] has built a next-generation research platform that empowers scientists, 
engineers, and other researchers to explore and better understand academic and 
patent literature. It launched an early access product in November 2020 with 
rapid uptake by a global user base. It has received extremely positive feedback 
from researchers and has been featured on the front page of both product hunt 
and hacker news. Having recently closed its seed round Litmaps is focused on 
expansion of the user base and exploring how its technology can deliver value 
for high performing research teams in R&D intensive companies. 

Contact:
Skye Grayson
Quidnet Ventures
skye@quidnetventures.com 


SOURCE  Quidnet Ventures