Court reporting and litigation services start-up Steno has secured $49m in its latest funding round.
The Series C round was spearheaded by venture capital firm Savano Capital Partners, which was joined by First Round Capital and specialist investors The Legal Tech Fund, which have both previously backed the start-up.
Steno plans to use the capital to roll out and upgrade its litigation technology suite across the US, solidifying its partnerships with attorneys, paralegals and the court reporter community.
It also seeks to enhance its AI-powered transcription tool Transcript Genius, which examines legal documents and highlights the most salient parts.
The company says that thousands of firms are already using its products.
Greg Hong, CEO of Steno said: “Today’s investment allows us to release a vastly improved, differentiated offering that stays ahead of anything else in the market. Because we operate as both a world-class services provider and a tech company, we have a unique advantage: we live inside litigation workflows every day.
“That hybrid position allows us to build AI capabilities that software-only companies simply cannot replicate.”
Max Swicegood, principal at Savano Capital Partners, said that many companies in the litigation space compel law firms to make a choice between legacy service providers or pure software solutions, but Steno is “mastering both”.
He added: “Their ability to deliver a concierge experience that customers love while building AI tools grounded in data and a genuine, hard-won understanding of litigation workflows is why we are thrilled to join the board and lead this next phase of growth.”
Following the launch of Transcript Genius in 2024, Steno raised $46m from a group of undisclosed investors.
Prior to that in 2023, the firm secured $15m in a Series B funding round led by venture capital firm Left Lane Capital and supported by Clio Ventures.
First Round Capital led its $3.5m seed funding round in 2020, alongside Human Ventures, Clovis Funding, Touchdown Ventures and Amplo.
Steno is based in Los Angeles and was founded in 2018 by Hong, chief technology officer Dan Anderson and chief legal officer Dylan Ruga. Hong established hospitality technology platform Reserve in 2013, prior to that he also created small business consultancy firm Eleven 11.
Anderson collaborated with Hong and was VP of analytics at Reserve after it acquired restaurant payments firm HAIL, which he co-founded. Prior to that he spent almost four years at Zurich Insurance, where he became director and head of application security.
Ruga was the founder of civil litigators Stalwart Law Group, where he was a trial attorney. Before that he was a partner at Steptoe & Johnson for almost a decade.
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