Lawhive, a UK-based legal tech startup that allows smaller ‘main street’ law firms to run their practices via an AI-powered SaaS platform, is in a bit of a sticky situation. In April, it raised a seed round of $11.9 million. It has now raised $40 million in Series A funding to expand into the U.S. market.
This round was co-led by existing investors GV (Google Ventures) and TQ Ventures.
Founded in 2019 by co-founders Pierre Proner (CEO), Jaime Van Oers (CTO) and Flinn Dolman, Lawhive automates many of the heavy lifting for consumer lawyers, allowing them to speed up response times and serve more clients. . , they claim to save customers up to 50% of their costs.
They seem to be kicking open doors. According to one report, 80% of the legal needs of American consumers are not being met. This equates to $1 trillion in annual value.
To date, most legal tech startups are focused on “big law firms.” These include Harvey, Robin AI, and Spellbook. Most have avoided “main street” law firms, which have much smaller budgets and are more difficult to monetize. Proner told TechCrunch that small businesses must “manage higher costs amid a shrinking market” and make it a mature market.
Proner added: “I’m sure there will be competition (in the U.S.), but for now we are the leader in this space.”
When asked why he moved GV, which has more to do with his recent investments in DeepTech, he said, “I think the combination of consumer brands and DeepTech, and the DeepTech aspect of what we are building is AI.” He said. It’s the lawyers and the model, the proprietary model that we’ve built to distribute it. We were interested in combining aspects of a consumer brand, building a global consumer brand, and combining R&D and deep tech capabilities, which is key to the progress we have been able to make.”
Lawhive announced that its AI ‘Lawrence’ passed Part 1 of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). Lawyers can also use the platform to collaborate with their own clients or connect with consumers and small businesses through the Lawhive marketplace.
Schuster Tanger, co-founder/co-managing partner of TQ Ventures, added in a statement: “The U.S. legal market, arguably the largest in the world, is poised for disruption. “The urgent need for affordable legal access makes it the perfect environment for innovative technology solutions like Lawhive.”
Balderton Capital, Jigsaw, Episode 1 and Premier League footballers Harry Maguire and Reece James also participated in this round.
