Legal tech startup offering alternative to global firms’ ‘flawed delivery mechanism’ lands £3.38m funding

Legal tech startup Lexoo has secured new multi-million pound funding to expand overseas and develop its data-driven marketplace.

The company, based in London, has confirmed details of a $4.4m (c.£3.38m) Series A round led by venture capital firm Earlybird.

The investment included backing from tech startup-focused Forward Partners and Zoopla Property Group general counsel Ned Staple, among others.

Lexoo will use the seven-figure boost to support its expansion into new markets and develop new tools to help lawyers work more efficiently.

This will include investing in new technology, such as automated contract drafting and project management tools, and expanding its headcount to 45 staff by 2020.

Lexoo’s marketplace enables clients to compare and hire from a pool of more than 800 individually vetted lawyers, who offer competitive fixed-fee bids for their work. An algorithm matches legal professionals with each Lexoo client and job spec to eliminate the stress of securing an appropriate lawyer.

Co-founder and CEO Daniel van Binsbergen, previously an M&A lawyer at international firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, said: “The traditional global law firm is a flawed delivery mechanism.

“The large dominant firms bill by the hour and are incentivised to overcharge. Furthermore, the decision makers are often senior equity partners and so take a very short-term view.”

He added: “We have created a competitive and transparent market that is aligned with the interests of the customer rather than the partners of big firms.”

Lawyers on Lexoo are typically former global firm professionals who now work either independently or for boutiques.

The company launched in 2014 and now boasts a network covering 55 counties. To date, more than 3,000 multinationals, large corporates and startups have engaged Lexoo lawyers.

Speaking further, Daniel said: “We’re seeing a new generation of in-house lawyers challenging established practices of big firms and looking for alternatives.

“Indeed there is a growing realisation that smaller specialist firms are not only more cost effective but also provide superior service. Meanwhile, larger corporates are increasingly hiring legal operations managers to review procurement practices and bring down legal costs. All of this is extremely encouraging for Lexoo.”

Fabian Heilemann, partner at Earlybird, will join the Lexoo board as part of the funding round.

Fabian said: “We are delighted to be investing in Daniel and the whole Lexoo team, who have the perfect combination of tech expertise and legal industry background needed to take on the B2B big law market.

“We love their vision and believe they have the potential to evolve from a marketplace into a virtual and distributed tech-driven global law firm.”

Zoopla’s Ned Staple commented: “I was struck by how Daniel and his team understood the need to grow supply and demand in unison, which is critical to building successful platform businesses and generating network effects.”

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