diff --git a/spacy/pipeline/spancat.py b/spacy/pipeline/spancat.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3a981308b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spacy/pipeline/spancat.py
@@ -0,0 +1,300 @@
+from .pipes import Pipe
+from thinc.v2v import Maxout, Affine
+from thinc.t2t import SoftAttention
+from thinc.t2v import Pooling, sum_pool
+from thinc.api import zero_init
+from .._ml import logistic
+
+
+class SpanCategorizer(Pipe):
+    """Predict labels for spans of text."""
+
+    @classmethod
+    def Model(cls, **cfg):
+        # TODO: Settings here
+        tok2vec = Tok2Vec(**cfg)
+        with Model.define_operators({">>": chain}):
+            span2scores = (
+                reshape_add_lengths
+                #>> SoftAttention
+                >> Pooling(sum_pool)
+                >> LayerNorm(Residual(Maxout(tok2vec.nO)))
+                >> zero_init(Affine(tok2vec.nO))
+                >> logistic
+            )
+        return create_span_model(self.get_spans, tok2vec, span2scores)
+
+    def __init__(self, user_data_key="phrases", get_spans=None, model=True):
+        Pipe.__init__(self)
+        self.user_data_key = user_data_key
+        self.span_getter = get_spans
+        self.model = model
+        self.max_length = 10
+
+    @property
+    def tok2vec(self):
+        if self.model in (None, True, False):
+            return None
+        else:
+            return self.model.tok2vec
+
+    @property
+    def labels(self):
+        return tuple(self.cfg.setdefault("labels", []))
+
+    @labels.setter
+    def labels(self, value):
+        self.cfg["labels"] = tuple(value)
+
+    def add_label(self, label):
+        """Add an output label, to be predicted by the model."""
+        self.cfg["labels"].append(label)
+
+    def begin_training(
+        self, get_gold_tuples=lambda: [], pipeline=None, sgd=None, **kwargs
+    ):
+        """Initialize the pipe for training, using data exampes if available.
+        If no model has been initialized yet, the model is added."""
+        for gold in get_gold_tuples():
+            if "phrases" in gold:
+                for label in gold["phrases"]:
+                    self.add_label(label)
+        return Pipe.begin_training(self, get_gold_tuples, pipeline, sgd, **kwargs)
+
+    def get_spans(self, docs):
+        if self.span_getter is not None:
+            return self.span_getter(docs)
+        spans = []
+        offset = 0
+        for doc in docs:
+            spans.extend(_get_all_spans(len(doc), self.max_length, offset=offset))
+            offset += len(doc)
+        return spans
+
+    def predict(self, docs, drop=0.0):
+        spans = self.get_spans(docs)
+        tokvecs = self.model.tok2vec(docs)
+        scores = _predict_batched(self.model.span2scores, tokvecs, spans)
+        predictions = _scores2spans(docs, scores, self.labels)
+        return {
+            "tokvecs": tokvecs,
+            "predictions": predictions,
+            "scores": scores,
+            "spans": spans,
+        }
+
+    def set_annotations(self, docs, predictions):
+        for doc, doc_predictions in zip(docs, predictions):
+            phrases = predictions["predictions"]
+            doc.user_data.setdefault(self.user_data_key, [])
+            doc.user_data[self.user_data_key].extend(phrases)
+
+    def get_loss(self, spans_scores, token_label_matrix):
+        """Regression loss, predicting what % of a span's tokens are in a
+        gold-standard span of a given type."""
+        spans, scores = indices_scores
+        d_scores = numpy.zeros(scores.shape, dtype=scores.dtype)
+        labels = scores.argmax(axis=1)
+        for i, (start, end) in enumerate(spans):
+            target = token_label_weights[start:end].sum(axis=0)
+            d_scores[i] = scores - target
+        return self.model.ops.asarray(d_scores)
+
+    def update(self, docs, golds, sgd=None, drop=0.0, losses=None):
+        if losses is None:
+            losses = {self.name: 0.0}
+        spans = self.get_spans(docs)
+        tokvecs, backprop_tokvecs = self.model.tok2vec.begin_update(docs, drop=drop)
+        d_tokvecs = self.ops.allocate(tokvecs.shape, dtype="f")
+
+        grads = {}
+
+        def get_grads(W, dW, key=None):
+            grads[key] = (W, dW)
+
+        get_grads.alpha = sgd.alpha
+        get_grads.b1 = sgd.b1
+        get_grads.b2 = sgd.b2
+
+        token_label_matrix = _get_token_label_matrix(
+            [g.phrases for g in golds], [len(doc) for doc in docs], self.labels
+        )
+
+        for indices, starts, length in _batch_spans_by_length(spans):
+            X = _get_span_batch(tokvecs, starts, length)
+            Y, backprop = self.spans2scores.begin_update(X, drop=drop)
+            dY = self.get_loss((indices, Y), token_label_matrix)
+            dX = backprop(dY, sgd=get_grads)
+            for i, start in enumerate(starts):
+                d_tokvecs[start : start + length] += dX[i]
+            losses[self.name] += (dY ** 2).sum()
+        backprop_tokvecs(d_tokvecs, sgd=get_grads)
+        if sgd is not None:
+            for key, (W, dW) in grads.items():
+                sgd(W, dW, key=key)
+        return losses
+
+
+@layerize
+def reshape_add_lengths(X, drop=0.):
+    xp = get_array_module(X)
+    length = X.shape[1]
+    lengths = xp.zeros((X.shape[0],), dtype='i')
+    lengths += length
+    Y = X.reshape((-1, X.shape[-1]))
+
+    def backprop_reshape(dY, sgd=None):
+        return dY.reshape((-1, length, dY.shape[-1]))
+
+    return Y, backprop_reshape
+
+
+def predict_spans(doc2spans, tok2vecs, span2scores):
+    """Apply a model over inputs that are a tuple of (vectors, spans), where the
+    spans are an array of (start, end) offsets. The vectors should be a single
+    array concatenated for the whole batch.
+
+    The output will be a tuple (outputs, spans), where the outputs array
+    will have one row per span. In the backward pass, we take the gradients w.r.t.
+    the spans, and return the gradients w.r.t. the input vectors.
+
+    A naive implementation of this process would make a single array, padded
+    for all spans. However, the longest span may be very long, so this array
+    would consume an enormous amount of memory. Instead, we sort the spans by
+    length and work in batches. This reduces the total amount of padding, and
+    means we do not need to hold expanded arrays for the whole data. As a bonus,
+    the input model also doesn't need to worry about masking: we know that the
+    data it works over has no empty items.
+    """
+
+    def apply_to_spans_forward(inputs, drop=0.0):
+        docs = inputs.get("docs")
+        tokvecs = inputs.get("tokvecs")
+        spans = inputs.get("spans")
+        if spans is None:
+            spans = doc2spans(docs)
+        if tokvecs is None:
+            tokvecs, bp_tokvecs = tok2vecs.begin_update(docs, drop=drop)
+        else:
+            bp_tokvecs = None
+        scores, backprop_scores = _begin_update_batched(
+            span2scores, tokvecs, spans, drop=drop
+        )
+        shape = tokvecs.shape
+
+        def apply_to_spans_backward(d_scores, sgd=None):
+            d_tokvecs = _backprop_batched(shape, d_scores, backprops, sgd)
+            return d_tokvecs
+
+        return (scores, spans), apply_to_spans_backward
+
+    model = wrap(apply_to_spans_forward, tok2vecs, span2scores)
+    model.tok2vec = tok2vec
+    model.span2scores = span2scores
+    return model
+
+
+def _get_token_label_matrix(gold_phrases, lengths, labels):
+    output = numpy.zeros((sum(lengths), len(labels)), dtype="i")
+    label2class = {label: i for i, label in enumerate(labels)}
+    offset = 0
+    for doc_phrases, length in gold_phrases:
+        for phrase in phrases:
+            clas = label2class[phrase.label]
+            for i in range(phrase.start, phrase.end):
+                output[offset + i, clas] = 1
+        offset += length
+    return output
+
+
+def _scores2spans(docs, scores, starts, ends, labels, threshold=0.5):
+    token_to_doc = _get_token_to_doc(docs)
+    output = []
+    # When we predict, assume only one label per identical span.
+    guesses = scores.argmax(axis=1)
+    bests = scores.max(axis=1)
+    for i, start in enumerate(starts):
+        doc_i, offset = token_to_doc[start]
+        if bests[i] >= threshold:
+            span = Span(docs[doc_i], start, ends[i], label=labels[guesses[i])
+            output.append(span)
+    return output
+
+
+def _get_token_to_doc(docs):
+    offset = 0
+    token_to_doc = {}
+    for i, doc in enumerate(docs):
+        for j in range(len(doc)):
+            token_to_doc[j+offset] = (i, offset)
+        offset += len(doc)
+    return token_to_doc
+
+
+def _get_all_spans(length, max_len, offset=0):
+    spans = []
+    for start in range(length):
+        for end in range(i + 1, min(i + 1 + max_len, length)):
+            spans.append((offset + start, offset + end))
+    return spans
+
+
+def _batch_spans_by_length(spans):
+    """Generate groups of spans that have the same length, starting with the
+    longest group (going backwards may reduce allocations).
+    For each group, yield a tuple (indices, starts, length), where indices
+    shows which items from the spans array are in the batch.
+    """
+    spans = [(e - s, i, s) for i, (s, e) in enumerate(spans)]
+    spans.sort(reverse=True)
+    batch_start = 0
+    i = 0
+    while True:
+        i += 1
+        if i >= len(spans) or spans[i][0] != spans[batch_start][0]:
+            _, indices, starts = zip(*spans[batch_start:i])
+            yield indices, starts, spans[batch_start][0]
+            batch_start = i
+
+
+def _get_span_batch(vectors, starts, length):
+    xp = get_array_module(vectors)
+    output = xp.zeros((len(starts), length, vectors.shape[1]))
+    for i, start in enumerate(starts):
+        output[i] = vectors[start : start + length]
+    return output
+
+
+def _predict_batched(model, tokvecs, spans):
+    xp = get_array_module(vectors)
+    output = xp.zeros((len(spans), model.nO), dtype="f")
+    for indices, starts, length in _batch_spans_by_length(spans):
+        X = _get_span_batch(tokvecs, starts, length)
+        batchY = model(X)
+        for i, output_idx in enumerate(indices):
+            output[output_idx] = Y[i]
+    return output
+
+
+def _begin_update_batched(model, tokvecs, spans, drop):
+    xp = get_array_module(vectors)
+    output = xp.zeros((len(spans), model.nO), dtype="f")
+    backprops = []
+    for indices, starts, length in _batch_spans_by_length(spans):
+        X = _get_span_batch(tokvecs, starts, length)
+        batchY, backprop = model.begin_update(X, drop=drop)
+        for i, output_idx in enumerate(indices):
+            output[output_idx] = Y[i]
+        backprops.append((indices, starts, length, backprop))
+    return output, backprops
+
+
+def _backprop_batched(shape, d_output, backprops):
+    xp = get_array_module(d_output)
+    d_tokvecs = xp.zeros(shape, dtype=d_output.dtype)
+    for indices, starts, ends, backprop in backprops:
+        dY = d_output[indices]
+        dX = backprop(dY)
+        for i, (start, end) in enumerate(zip(starts, ends)):
+            d_tokvecs[start:end] += dX[i, : end - start]
+    return d_tokvecs