U.K.-based legal tech startup Lawhive, which allows small, ‘Main Street’ law firms to run their affairs through an AI-based SaaS platform, is on something of a tear. In April it raised an $11.9 million Seed round. It’s now raised a $40million in Series A funding to expand in the US.
The round was co-led by existing investor GV (Google Ventures) and TQ Ventures.
Founded in 2019 by co-founders Pierre Proner (CEO), Jaime Van Oers (CTO), and Flinn Dolman, Lawhive automates a lot of the heavy lifting for consumer lawyers, speeding up their response times, allowing them to serve more customers, and, they claim, reducing costs for customers by up to 50%.
They appear to be kicking at an open door. According to one report, 80% of US consumer legal needs are unmet. This equates to $1 trillion in value, annually.
To date, most legal tech startups concentrate on “Big Law” firms. These include Harvey, Robin AI, and Spellbook. Most have avoided “main street” law firms, which have far smaller budgets and are harder to monetize. Proner told TechCrunch smaller firms have to “manage higher costs amid a shrinking market”, making them a ripe market.
Proner added: “I’m sure we’ll see competition emerge [in the US] but as of right now we’re first movers in this space.”
When asked what moved the needle GV, which has lately been more associated with DeepTech investments, he said: “I think the fact that we combine a consumer brand with deep tech, and the deep tech aspect of what we’re building is our AI lawyer and the models, our proprietary models, that we’ve built to deploy that. The interest was in combining aspects of a consumer brand, building a global consumer brand, with R&D and a deep tech function, which is key to the progress that we’ve been able to make.”
Lawhive says its AI, named ‘Lawrence,’ has passed part one of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). Lawyers can also use the platform to work with their own clients or be matched with consumers and small businesses through the Lawhive marketplace.
In a statement, Schuster Tanger, Co-Founder/Co-Managing Partner at TQ Ventures, added: “The US legal market, arguably the largest in the world, is ripe for disruption. The pressing need for affordable legal access makes it the perfect environment for innovative tech solutions like Lawhive’s.”
Also participating in the round was Balderton Capital, Jigsaw, Episode 1, and Premier League footballers Harry Maguire and Reece James.
