This was the case at the end of last week reported artificial intelligence startup Harvey wanted to lift $600 million at a $2 billion valuation.
Of course, news of a nine-figure, $1 billion-plus fundraising is nothing recent in AI — just take a look at some of the news from the last few days.
What caught our attention, nevertheless, was what Harvey was doing and what such a round could do to the financing of his industry.
Harvey’s platform helps research and analyze legal documents and is one of a growing variety of generative AI in legal tech startups trying to relieve lawyers of some of the repetitive, time-consuming and mundane tasks.
According to Crunchbase, funding for legal tech startups is barely down this 12 months in comparison with last data. For almost half a 12 months, legal tech startups have raised just $356 million in comparison with the $871 million VC-backed startups raised in the sector last 12 months.
Of course, the Harvey round – if it goes through – will completely reverse the funding trajectory, demonstrating the growing impact of artificial intelligence on the legal industry.
Some of the biggest legal tech rounds this 12 months got here from other AI startups trying to gain a foothold in the industry, including:
- Based in London Robin A.Iparalegal to automate and speed up contract drafting, raising a Series B round of roughly $26.7 million.
- Based in New York DraftWisea contracting and negotiation platform for law firms that raised $20 million in Series A funding.
- Based in Toronto Book of Spells is a legal software startup that is developing a generative artificial intelligence contract drafting tool for lawyers, raising a Series A round of roughly $19.6 million.
Of course, this trend of legitimate AI tech startups receiving funding actually began last 12 months – including from Harvey himself. Last December, the San Francisco-based startup raised $80 million in Series B funding Kleiner Perkins AND Elad Gila which valued the company at over $700 million by post.
Additionally, other AI startups reminiscent of Darrow, LegalMacja AND Powerlaw AI all had solid innings last 12 months.
Investor interest in AI-related legal technologies, which began last 12 months, appears to only be growing – and now this space may soon see its biggest growth ever.
Funding for legal technology has ebbed and flowed over the years as the sector has been notoriously slow to adopt. However, it seems that artificial intelligence, as in many other industries, is slowly changing the dynamics of financing.
Things that caught our eye and more:
- Another industry that has seen significant disruption because of AI is healthcare. This week, one other startup received a large tranche of money. Based in New York Previousartificial intelligence-powered healthcare administration platform has locked down a $20 million Series An organization led by NEA at reported Post-money valuation of $95 million. The company’s AI co-pilot helps with insurance approvals and reduces denials of care. Its initial offering includes prior authorization automation.
- Another AI financial services startup also raised some money. Based in Salt Lake City Jumpwhich uses artificial intelligence to automate repetitive tasks reminiscent of taking notes and reviewing data from previous customer conversations, raised $4.6 million in a funding round led by Sorenson’s capital.