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Melbourne-founded Legal-tech startup LawAdvisor Ventures has raised $7.18 million from backers, including Google Maps founder Lars Rasmussen, to help transform how the law is practised and legal services are delivered.
Founded by its CEO Brennan Ong in 2015, LawAdvisor Ventures is known for its flagship Software as a Service (SaaS) products LegalEye and Fibonacci launched in early 2021, which boost productivity by removing administrative tasks, allowing lawyers more time to spend on casework.
With annual recurring revenue license fees of $2 million on the release of these products, LawAdvisor sought out strategic investments from a seed round to accelerate the use of the technology. Rasmussen, who first invested in 2016 just months before the group moved its headquarters to London, came back again for more.
Other investors include former Orrick chairman and CEO Ralph Baxter, Microsoft general manager and associate general counsel Jason Barnwell, Gilead Sciences head of legal operations Gary Tully, and former Barclays Ventures CEO Ben Davey.
“We founded LawAdvisor to use technology to address some of the fundamental flaws in the way the law was practiced, and services were delivered. Having seen those challenges firsthand, we brought in some of the leading legal teams around the world to develop solutions to those most pressing problems in collaboration with the leading thinkers in the industry,” Ong said.
Ong said the team had been "blown away" by the reaction of early customers and the wider market since launching LegalEye and Fibonacci.
“We now want to further develop our technology so it can solve even more of the challenges today’s lawyers are facing and roll it out across more legal teams around the world.”
LawAdvisor’s expertise with both technology and the law, coupled with its low-code, building-block approach, has led to early multinational clients including Bird & Bird, Simmons & Simmons, Paul Hastings, Clifford Chance, Shearman & Sterling, and Barclays signing up to use the technology.
With the investment now secured, Ong said the London-headquartered law company would focus on growing its team, improving its products, and developing the business to transform how legal services are fundamentally delivered.
LawAdvisor investor Ralph Baxter believes the industry is reaching a pivotal moment for legal technology.
“To make a difference, legal tech companies must understand the pain points facing lawyers and their clients and fashion solutions that meaningfully address them; LawAdvisor does just that, making it an exceptional new contributor to the legal services ecosystem,” he said.
“Led by a remarkable team, LawAdvisor has the potential to change the way legal service is delivered for the benefit of everyone. I am excited to help the team realise these goals.”
Gilead Sciences head of legal operations Gary Tully said that the velocity of change in legal departments created challenges that required new-age thinking.
“LawAdvisor is addressing these challenges with its remarkably innovative tools. Tools that offer organisations the opportunity of achieving operational excellence,” he said.
Aiming to ensure the technology achieves its growth goals, the investors have formed an advisory panel to help guide LawAdvisor through the process while overseeing the further development of the technology.
Also joining the advisory panel is Barclays Execution Services general counsel Steve Albrecht, consultant and LawTech UK panel member Christopher Grant, Norton Rose Fulbright head of legal operations consulting Stephanie Hamon, and former Bird & Bird CEO David Kerr.
This latest round adds to US$4.3 million ($6.2 million) raised previously.
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