Lawhive raises $40M to expand its legal AI platform in the US

UK-based legaltech startup Lawhive has raised $40million in Series A funding to accelerate its US expansion, using AI to make legal services more accessible and affordable.The round was co-led by existing investor GV (Google Ventures) and TQ Ventures, with participation from Balderton, Jigsaw, Episode 1 and Premier League footballers Harry Maguire and Reece James.

Founded in 2019 by co-founders Pierre Proner (CEO), Jaime Van Oers (CTO) and Flinn Dolman — on the belief that everyone deserves affordable legal support — Lawhive is transforming the industry by automating administrative and legal tasks for lawyers and reducing costs for customers by up to 50%. To date, the company has helped thousands of people with a range of issues, from family, property and disputes to consumer rights and small business issues.

The team is now focused on disrupting the US legal market, where the justice gap is particularly wide. Recent figures show that 80% of US consumer legal needs are unmet, with an estimated value of $1 trillion annually.

Lawhive operates an AI-powered platform for lawyers, providing them with tools covering workflow management, compliance and payments. Lawyers can work with their own clients or be matched with consumers and small businesses through the Lawhive marketplace. By using cutting-edge AI to handle many aspects of legal work, the platform enables huge time-savings for lawyers and major cost and efficiency benefits for their clients. As a result, Lawhive can efficiently tackle a vast array of common legal matters that, up until now, have been the domain of traditional high street or main street law firms. 

At the core of Lawhive’s platform is Lawrence, an AI lawyer that automates routine legal tasks. In tests, Lawrence has matched the performance of human lawyers and passed part one of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). This breakthrough in AI is widening access to justice and enabling lawyers to work more efficiently.