World-class consulting and transaction advisory services for intellectual property (IP) owners, licensees and investors seeking to build and realize value from IP assets
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Experience
The Jamster Capital team combines extensive IP and transaction experience with trusted client relationships.
$3B+
IP acquisitions and licensing transactions
250+ deals
M&A and capital markets advisory
$300M+
Equity raised and deployed as CEO
500+
Clients served
Formed in 2017 and led by John Amster, who has personally been involved in billions of dollars worth of transactions, the firm combines decades of experience building the largest patent acquirers (RPX , IV, AST), driving IP practices at growth-focused investment banks and consultancies (Stifel, Cowen, Accenture, Aon), and leading IP departments at major law firms and technology companies (Simpson Thacher, Cisco). Our multidisciplinary backgrounds enable us to deliver actionable, business-focused IP intelligence to our clients.
Solutions
Clients
Our clients represent a wide variety of sizes and unique needs.
IP Owners and Licensors: Jamster Capital works with IP owners and licensors who want to maximize value from their patent portfolios through licensing. We offer end-to-end services to develop and execute successful IP licensing programs, including portfolio analysis to identify key value drivers, technical due diligence, development of sales materials, and direct licensing/negotiation support. We also provide transaction services for clients looking to divest their patent portfolio in an outright sale.
IP-Rich Enterprises: Jamster Capital works with operating companies at all stages where IP is a significant source of value, from small startups looking to build a world-class patent portfolio to the world's largest and most sophisticated enterprises. Whether seeking a peaceful resolution to a licensing assertion, a comprehensive intellectual property strategy to strengthen a marketplace position, a Quality of IP analysis to enhance enterprise positioning for capital formation and M&A, or the direct sale/purchase of patent assets, we have the skills and services to meet your needs.
Financial Buyers, Sellers and Investors: Jamster Capital works with private equity sponsors, venture capital firms, corporate development teams and other investors to assist with pre-investment or transactional diligence, including sector analysis and competitiveness research. In connection with potential acquisitions, investments, divestitures and similar transactions, we assist investors and asset owners in evaluating specific IP assets and broad technology landscapes for both individual businesses and entire industries. We also provide post-merger management solutions designed to capture strategic gains through legal structuring.
Lenders and Underwriters: Jamster Capital works with lenders and underwriters who want to develop a deep and unbiased perspective of a company's competitive IP position. We provide robust analysis on the patent portfolio of a borrower or issuer, examining key factors such as technology coverage, patent quality, and competitive benchmarking to help our clients understand a portfolio's underlying value, its alignment with the core business and its potential for licensing with other companies.
Team
Team
John A. Amster
John A. Amster
CEO
John is the founder and CEO of Jamster Capital LLC and has been a leading innovator in the IP industry for the past 25+ years. Previously, John served as the founder and CEO of Rowan Patents, a provider of integrated, AI-enabled drafting solutions for patent practitioners, which completed its sale to Clarivate in 2024. Prior to Rowan, John was a co-founder and CEO of RPX Corporation from 2008-2017, creating the first defensive patent aggregator, leading his team from inception to a $850 million IPO in 2011, and building the business to over 300 clients and $300M in annual revenue. Before co-founding RPX, Mr. Amster was the General Manager of Strategic Acquisitions and Vice President of Licensing at Intellectual Ventures, a Managing Director and founder of the M&A Advisory practice for Ocean Tomo, and Vice President and Secretary at InterTrust Technologies. Mr. Amster received his J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and his B.A. from Middlebury College.
Justin Basara
Justin Basara
Managing Director
Justin has 20+ years experience in the IP industry and has led the patent analysis and negotiations of hundreds of acquisitions while at Rowan Patents, RPX and at Ocean Tomo. Justin has his B.S. in Business Administration, Management, MIS, and International Business from the University of Notre Dame. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbasara/
Linda Biel
Linda Biel
Senior Advisor
Linda has been in the IP industry for over 15 years, specializing in client development and relations for Rowan Patents, AST, PatentFreedom, Provenance Asset Group. Before that she was in sales and marketing for IBM, and engineering cost development for General Dynamics. Linda earned her B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lbiel/
Hilary Chase
Hilary Chase
Vice President
Hilary has 7+ years experience in IP, Management Consulting, and Private Equity. Most recently Hilary served a Director in Aon’s Quality of IP practice group conducting analysis on business-to-patent alignment in buyside and sell-side M&A transactions. Prior to that she served as a 5G product strategy consultant at Slalom for a large telecom provider. Hilary has extensive experience in IP strategy, portfolio management and monetization having worked at Allied Inventors and at Northwestern University's technology transfer office. Hilary has her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Northwestern and her B.S. in Chemistry from Providence College. https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilary-chase-phd/
Jay Herwitz
Jay Herwitz
Managing Director
Jay has 15+ years experience in the IP and Consulting industries, having most recently led Legal Management Consulting at Rowan Patents. Previously, he led Patent Analysis at RPX. Jay has extensive experience in portfolio analysis and valuation, and has also worked for Lockheed Martin and Deloitte Consulting. Jay has his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles. Jay is a registered patent agent with the USPTO. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jherwitz/
Tom Lerdal
Tom Lerdal
Senior Advisor
Tom has 20+ years in the IP, legal, and consulting industries, including client development, acquisitions, client relations, patent litigation and transactions for Rowan Patents, RPX, Banner & Witcoff, and Accenture. Tom has his J.D. from the University of Virginia and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona. Tom is a registered patent attorney. https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaslerdal/
Jeff Ostrow
Jeff Ostrow
Managing Director
For over thirty years, Jeff has been a strategic and legal advisor to public and private companies on intellectual property matters across a broad spectrum of industries and technologies around the world. At Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he chaired the IP Group, Jeff advised on hundreds of M&A and capital markets transactions. Jeff is also a litigator with extensive experience across a wide range of subject matter including patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, contract and licence disputes, antitrust, investigations, securities, privacy, and cyber matters.
Since 2013, Jeff has taught at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. He developed a popular class on how organizations make strategic decisions regarding their IP and technology, and the IP and technology of their domestic and global competitors. In recent years, AI has been at the forefront of issues under consideration in the class. Conversations have focused on how AI capabilities are impacted by existing case law, statute and regulatory policy — and how law and policy should evolve to meet the real world challenges that AI presents.
Pete Petitt
Pete Petitt
Managing Director
Pete brings over 25 years of transaction experience to Jamster Capital, having served in leadership roles spanning investment banking, corporate development and insurance. Most recently, he ran the IP Transaction Advisory practice at Aon, helping IP-rich companies navigate the M&A and capital markets. As an investment banker, Pete led origination and execution of M&A and financing transactions in the technology and IP licensing sectors with growth-focused firms including Stifel, Cowen and Robertson Stephens. Pete also served as VP Corporate Development for RPX, a patent risk management firm. Pete received his M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and his B.A. from The Colorado College. https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-petitt-4bb4275/
Neal Rubin
Neal Rubin
Managing Director
Neal is a Managing Director at Jamster Capital, responsible for advising technology companies and private investors on ways to maximize IP value and minimize IP-related risk. Prior to joining Jamster, Neal was Senior Vice President at RPX Corporation, Vice President of a Global Litigation at Cisco Systems for fifteen years and an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of California. Neal has testified on patent reform issues before the U.S. House of Representatives and spoken at the White House on how public companies can partner with law enforcement on trademark and anti-counterfeit efforts. Neal received his B.A. from Amherst College and his J.D. from the University of Southern California. https://www.linkedin.com/in/neal-rubin-8a8a6b3/
Griffin Weiler
Griffin Weiler
Principal
Griffin has 12+ years of experience in IP and management consulting. Prior to joining Jamster Capital, Griffin led operations and execution in Aon's Quality of Intellectual Property group, under Aon's Growth Ventures, where he helped create and deliver IP solutions into the M&A and capital markets. Before Aon, Griffin spent many years in management consulting, focusing on M&A transactions and corporate strategy, after beginning his career at GE Capital. Griffin graduated with honors from The Pennsylvania State University. https://www.linkedin.com/in/griffinweiler/
Calvin Wong
Calvin Wong
Principal
Calvin has 13+ years of experience in IP and strategy consulting. Previous to joining Jamster Capital, Calvin led product development in Aon's Quality of Intellectual Property group where he helped to bring IP intelligence for the M&A market. Calvin also worked in Cisco's Corporate Strategy team to drive growth of software business and was a Senior Director at Sherpa Technology Group, a leading IP strategy firm. Calvin has his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Material Science from the University of California, Irvine and his M.B.A. from The Wharton School. https://www.linkedin.com/in/calvin-wong-b3b805a/
Representative Transactions
Representative Transactions
As a general practice, we do not divulge the identity of our clients given the sensitivity of IP transactions. Following are some anonymous examples of recent client engagements completed by the Jamster Capital team.
Sellside M&A: Our client and its investment banker were seeking data-driven IP analytics to support an M&A sale transaction. The client provided engineered solutions for industrial end markets, with distinguished products, manufacturing and financials. These advantages were rooted in innovation and protected by an IP portfolio composed of patents, trade secrets and know-how. We delivered a Quality of IP report that helped the deal team improve IP positioning, develop a premium “equity story”, enable deeper diligence and motivate buyers. The result was a premium valuation and a robust sale process.
Capital Formation: Our client and its investment banker were seeking IP analytics to support a $100M+ capital raise coupling equity with project finance. The client had developed a novel biomanufacturing technology that enabled the replacement of chemical-based products with sustainable alternatives. Its technology was protected by an extensive patent portfolio. We prepared a Quality of IP report for the company, enabling the deal team to augment IP positioning and due diligence through a series of financing transactions.
Sector Roll-Up: Our client was a growth equity investor seeking patent intelligence on a high-growth segment within industrial automation. We composed a patent landscape covering specified areas of technology, and we ran analytics to identify innovation trends and patent leaders. We then analyzed the patent portfolios of three specific targets, answering threshold questions about patent quality, relevance and risk. Our client completed one take-private platform acquisition and one bolt-on acquisition, leveraging our analytics to inform due diligence and go-forward IP strategy.
Patent Portfolio Development: Our client developed a patented, very dense and highly productive indoor system for growing herbs and greens. As a young company they were looking to build their portfolio and adequately protect their IP. They needed help creating a clear growth strategy for their business model. We provided them with patent filings, competitor analysis, business strategy, landscapes and licensing models.
Patent Peace: A major US company was facing multiple litigations from entities associated with a litigation funding organization. Both parties asked us to explore whether they could achieve “peace” for a reasonable period of time instead of serially resolving litigations on their own. We were able to help structure and negotiate a multi-year peace.
NPE Resolution: A significant international corporation was in a prolonged litigation with a patent licensing entity, without progressing towards a settlement. Our team was engaged and brought the matter to a satisfactory licensing arrangement for eight figures, down 50% from the initial ask.
Syndicated License: Several clients were facing potential litigation by a single patent licensing entity, and they turned to us to arrange a settlement that could avoid litigation. While each company was able to use its own license agreement, and each agreement was handled independently, it was beneficial for all involved to have several parties reach agreement in a relatively short time frame, each in the range of seven figures.
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