Wordsmith lands another $14m as it bets on AI keeping more work in-house

Edinburgh-based legal AI startup Wordsmith has raised a further $14 million, taking its total funding past $100 million as it looks to expand its AI platform for in-house legal teams.

The funding extends the company's recent $70 million Series B and was led by Intact Private Capital alongside existing investors Highland Europe and Index Ventures. FT Ventures, the Financial Times' investment arm, has also invested.

Founded by former lawyer Ross McNairn, Wordsmith focuses exclusively on in-house legal teams, using AI to help business functions such as sales, HR and procurement access legal support without routing every request through lawyers.

The company said revenue has grown 14-fold over the past year and that its platform is now used by more than 500 companies, including BT, Sage and Revolut.

McNairn said the aim was to help legal teams keep more work in-house rather than relying on external advisers.

"Every dollar that leaves a legal team and goes to outside counsel is a decision," he said.

"Too often, those decisions are made by default rather than by design because legal teams have never had the infrastructure to handle the work internally. Wordsmith gives them that infrastructure.

"The result is a legal function that keeps more work in-house, spends less on external counsel, and can finally show the business the impact it delivers."

FT backs Wordsmith

The latest investment also brings in FT Ventures, with the Financial Times revealing its own legal team has adopted Wordsmith's platform.

Alexandra Calinikos, chief investment officer at FT Ventures, said the publication's legal team had chosen Wordsmith as its enterprise legal AI platform to give the wider business faster access to legal support.

The latest funding follows a $25 million raise last year and brings the Edinburgh company's total funding to roughly $114 million.