Dentons and CMS cash out stakes in legal AI company Noxtua

Dentons and CMS have sold their stakes in European legal AI company Noxtua as part of a €100 million-plus funding round that has made German legal publisher C.H.BECK its majority shareholder.

The two firms were among a group of existing investors to exit as Berlin-based Noxtua reshuffles its ownership around partnerships with European legal publishers.

CMS was an early backer of the company, while Dentons invested in Noxtua's €80 million Series B last year and worked with the company on developing its product.

Both firms will remain “key anchor clients” of Noxtua following the sale of their stakes, the startup said.

Publishers take control

Noxtua has developed its own large language model and pitches itself as a secure European alternative for law firms and companies concerned about where their data is stored and processed.

A key part of that strategy is combining its technology with legal content supplied by publishers across Europe. Noxtua said it now works with a network of publishers covering jurisdictions including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and several Central and Eastern European markets.

The company said the latest funding would support further product development and expansion across Europe. It now has more than 30,000 users and around 100 employees across six European offices.

Law firms exit

“From the outset, we viewed our investment in Noxtua as a strategic investment that could ultimately lead to an exit, and we are now taking that step,” said Markus Kaulartz, a CMS Germany partner and head of its AI International Focus Group.

He added that CMS remained convinced of the product's “quality and market relevance”, and said it has more Noxtua users than any other law firm in Germany.

Dentons said it had been actively involved in developing the product after investing in the Series B and had agreed to sell now that Noxtua's “initial development phase is complete”.

Neither firm disclosed the size of its original investment or how much it received for its stake.