Litmaps paves way for research

Partway through his PhD in molecular biology, Kyle Webster struggled to find the tools necessary to conduct his research.

“I was trying to find a way to move my field forward. Having a novel contribution to research literature was part of what was necessary. I was looking for the tools to help me, but everything available seemed kind of rubbish at the time.

“We set out to make some progress on that, and sort of ended up accidentally building a new type of search engine,” he laughs.

Five years later, Kyle was one of three masterminds behind Wellington-based science software startup Litmaps. The startup secured $250,000 in an extension round, on top of the initial $1m in a seed funding round led by Icehouse Ventures.

Together with friends Axton Pitt and Digl Dixon, they created a research platform that uses interactive citation maps to help researchers model, build, and apply their existing knowledge.

It’s creating a more efficient research experience to help speed up scientific breakthroughs.

“We’re excited about changing the way research is done in academic and commercial applications. Litmaps changes how experts can understand and navigate our collective knowledge, which has been trapped in systems developed decades or even centuries ago,” says Kyle.

“As a result, we’re improving the usefulness of the 300 million published and peer-reviewed studies. That will help to accelerate all sorts of existing research, from medicine to policy-making to space travel.”

Since its launch in November 2020, more than 400,000 researchers worldwide have used Litmaps. Researchers come from public research organisations to development teams in science-heavy companies.
With the allocated $1m in seed funding, the team is excited for what lies ahead.

“This investment means we can build out our platform to facilitate not only individual researchers, but teams of researchers.
“We will be able to zero in on verticals such as artificial intelligence and biotechnology. That will help enterprise-level R&D teams bring superior products to market more quickly.”

The funds will also go towards marketing expertise to help grow Litmaps’ user base and to bring in natural language processing expertise.

“We’ve only just scratched the surface,” says an excited Kyle. “Safely accelerating science and technology is what I want to be doing with my life, it’s like a dream come true.”

Growing up in Nelson, Kyle’s dream was to become a scientist. He hasn’t strayed too far from that.

After finishing his studies, he began his working life at the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Adviser.

“It was the pathway I had to pull myself away from to do this.”

Initially, Kyle’s “accidental innovation” was about solving a problem he’d shared with friend Axton. When they began working on what a software solution might look like, they realised there was a commercial opportunity. They set about creating an incorporated company.

It’s been what Kyle describes as a ‘reasonably typical’ startup journey with the usual startup challenges.

The Litmaps team is grateful for Wellington’s supportive startup environment and key supporters like WellingtonNZ, Creative HQ, Callaghan Innovation, NZTE, and the MacDiarmid Institute.

Litmaps works from a shared startup space in Wellington city. Originally, the team spent a year in the Creative HQ incubator environment with other potential startups.

“That was invaluable, sharing our struggles and problems and that feeling of not being alone.”

There have been grants too that have helped fund the likes of staff, technology development, and business coaches.

“The opportunities for us have been significant. We’re excited to enter the next phase of growth.”