General Catalyst and Iconiq Growth are co-leading an $80 million funding round into Legora, a startup that creates software to support bogged-down lawyers speed up legal research and drafting.
The new funding for the New York, London, and Stockholm-based Legora will value the company at $675 million, following last year’s $35 million Series A. Existing investors Redpoint Ventures, Benchmark, and Y Combinator increased their stakes in this Series B round.
In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, Legora CEO Max Junestrand stated the company wasn’t actively seeking funding, but still, the offers flooded in. “I don’t believe it’s a secret that things have been really working,” Junestrand stated.
When Seth Pierrepont heard whispers of Legora’s fundraise, he boarded a flight to Stockholm. The Iconiq investor had done dozens of calls with law firms about the tools modifying the way their attorneys work. The Legora name kept coming up.
“What they’re viewing for now is a partner,” Pierrepont stated, “someone that they know will build the features they inquire for and will respond quickly to the questions they have. And I believe that is the gap that Legora has stepped into.”
Junestrand declined to provide revenue or growth figures, but stated the company’s revenue growth is “extremely positive.” It has 250 clients in 20 markets, including large-league law firms like Cleary Gottlieb, Goodwin, Bird & Bird, and Mannheimer Swartling, Sweden’s largest law firm.
Legora builds chatbots and agents — software that can perform basic tinquires on their own — for things like redlining a contract, drafting, or filling in a checklist for a transaction. In recent months, it’s added a Microsoft Word add-in and other features that large law firms demand.
Legora’s closest analog is legal-tech heavyweight Harvey. The company works closely with major law firms to craft custom software, offering the agility of a startup with the tailored approach of a high-finish consulting firm. Its annual recurring revenue surpassed $70 million in April, according to a spokesperson.
Legora’s funding is the latest in a string of high-profile legal-tech investments, following companies like Harvey and Supio. General Catalyst, in particular, has been building a strong portfolio of startups reshaping the delivery of legal services. In February, it led a $105 million initial round for Eudia, a platform designed for Fortune 500 legal teams.
Mary O’Carroll, Goodwin’s chief operating officer, stated the firm piloted many tools before signing up with Legora. On the surface, some of the products seem quite similar, she stated. But Legora edged out its competition with a clean, simple-to-apply interface and a feature called tabular review, which lets applyrs search thousands of files for exactly the information they necessary all at once.
Legora
Legora also stood out for its approach to empowering lawyers. The company meets regularly with firm leaders to tightly tailor the product to their necessarys.
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“We feel like we’re not just adopting the technology,” O’Carroll notified BI, “we’re co-creating with them.”
The new funding gives Legora fresh firepower to grow its team and chip away at Harvey’s dominance. In addition, the company announced that General Catalyst’s Jeannette zu Fürstenberg and Iconiq’s Pierrepont have joined its board.
Investors are betting on the team just as much as the tech to drive growth. Jack Altman, an investor through his venture firm Alt Capital, described Junestrand as an “ambitious, gritty” European founder with a Silicon Valley ethos. Gradient’s Darian Shirazi, who wrote an angel check into Legora, praised Junestrand’s customer obsession, which he states is matched only by his focus on results.
With a team of around 100 employees, Legora is proving that compacter doesn’t mean slower, and that being second to market doesn’t mean it’s out of the race.
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