Ex-Magic Circle duo land £14m to scale legal tech platform Avvoka

Legal tech company Avvoka has raised £14 million in funding as the document automation platform looks to accelerate expansion in the US and further develop its drafting technology.

The London-based company was founded in 2016 by former Magic Circle lawyers Eliot Benzecrit and David Howorth. Avvoka’s tech allows lawyers and firms to generate customised legal documents and templates without coding.

The funding round was led by Valhalla Ventures, the investment firm founded by Mark and Lindy O’Hare. The pair built private markets data platform Preqin before selling it to BlackRock last year in a £2.5 billion deal.

Avvoka has been largely bootstrapped since launch and had previously raised just £600,000 from angel investors.

Drafting infrastructure

Avvoka positions its technology as infrastructure for legal drafting rather than a standalone generative AI tool.

“AI has changed the pace of legal drafting,” said co-founder Benzecrit. “Client expectations have shifted, volumes are rising, and the old model of document-by-document automation no longer scales.”

“What firms need now is drafting infrastructure - systems that embed structure, governance and human oversight alongside AI capability.”

The company’s automation technology converts legal documents into templates automatically, identifying variables, clauses and conditions while applying guardrails designed to keep drafts aligned with a firm’s existing standards.

Growing adoption

Avvoka said its technology is now used by more than 20% of the Am Law 100 as well as global corporates and law firms including A&O Shearman, Fenwick, Fried Frank and Ropes & Gray. In-house legal teams at Warner Bros Discovery and other multinationals are also among its users.

The new capital will be used to expand the company’s US footprint and further develop the platform’s capabilities for high-volume legal work.

Co-founder Howorth said Valhalla Ventures’ backing would help accelerate the company’s next phase of growth.

“Mark’s experience building Preqin into a global platform made Valhalla the perfect fit for our next stage,” he said.

O’Hare said the investment reflected growing demand from firms for infrastructure-like technology rather than only tools.

“AI is changing how legal work is done, but it won’t replace the need for robust systems,” he said. “Firms that want to scale without diluting their expertise will need platforms built with that reality in mind.”