UK legal tech startup Lawhive has raised $60 million in new funding with backing from Google Ventures, TQ Ventures and Balderton Capital.
The funding will be used primarily to scale the business and accelerate its expansion across the US, including plans for a New York headquarters.
UK-based Lawhive has raised $60 million in new funding as it looks to accelerate its expansion in the US consumer legal market.
The round was led by American investor Mitch Rales and backed by existing investors Google Ventures, TQ Ventures and London VC firm Balderton Capital. It brings Lawhive’s total funding to more than $100 million.
In the UK, Lawhive is an SRA-regulated consultancy-based law firm operating a model that combines human lawyers with an AI operating system designed to handle routine consumer legal work including document drafting, legal research, client intake and case management.
Founded in 2019, Lawhive initially offered an online legal services marketplace, connecting individuals and small businesses with lawyers, as well as developing an AI legal assistant called Lawrence for routine legal tasks - a tool that made headlines two years ago by passing the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE).
The business has since evolved into a law firm itself, operating a fee-share model with consultant lawyers. It returned to the headlines last year after acquiring regional conveyancing firm Woodstock, in what was widely seen as the first time a legal tech company had bought a law firm.
The scale
Lawhive said its platform is now generating around $35 million in annual revenue and supports roughly 750 lawyers working through its AI-native law firm across the UK and the US, according to Fortune.
The business is live in 35 US states, with plans to expand nationwide, alongside its UK operations. Its model focuses on high-volume consumer legal work, including property, family law, landlord-tenant disputes and consumer rights.
The US opportunity
The new funding will be used primarily to scale Lawhive’s US presence, where it already operates out of Austin and plans further expansion, including a new headquarters in New York.
The company argues that the opportunity is driven by a large mismatch between demand and supply in the US consumer legal market.
“There’s a $200 billion existing market, but there’s a trillion dollars of unmet need, of people who have serious legal problems every year who can’t afford an attorney,” co-founder Pierre Proner told Fortune.
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