US-Canadian technology-driven law firm start-up Blackletter has secured $6m in a seed funding round.
The round was led by early-stage investor Lerer Hippeau, alongside legal funding specialists Seven Stars, with participation from start-up financiers Maple VC, Garage Capital and Ripple Ventures.
They were joined by leading AI founders Aidan Gomez, Ivan Zhang and Nick Frosst of Cohere; Jae Lee, CEO of Twelve Labs; and Sara Hooker, CEO of Adaption Labs.
The firm said the funding will be used to expand its platform, along with growing its experienced bench of lawyers and engineers.
Blackletter says it combines experienced lawyers with its own AI software to provide businesses with faster legal services at a lower cost. The firm’s current practice areas include corporate, commercial, financing, M&A and employment.
The firm has developed a proprietary platform – Blackletter OS – that allows it to store knowledge and information about each client, and manage legal matters from initial stages through to completion.
Jonathan Rosenbluth, co-founder and CEO of Blackletter, said: “The old law firm model is structured to benefit the firm and its senior partners, not the clients it serves or even many of the lawyers who work there.
“We built Blackletter the other way around. Our technology and structure unlock an opportunity for Blackletter to be a critical partner to our clients, delivering strategic advice that drives real impact.”
Graham Brown, managing partner at Lerer Hippeau, said that the legal industry is ready for “structural change”.
He added: “The Blackletter team combines native frontier AI experience with expertise in rapidly scaling legal operations, uniquely positioning them to execute on their mission to transform this massive legacy industry.”
Since emerging from stealth mode in June, the firm says that it has attracted a client list of more than 75 early-stage and growth-stage companies and investors, including Ada, Antidote, Fanatics Betting & Gaming and Twelve Labs.
Its business model charges fixed fees rather than traditional hourly billable rates, with AI reducing the amount of time lawyers spend on a case.
The New York and Toronto-based firm was co-founded by a trio of Rosenbluth, Avi Brudner and David Stewart.
Rosenbluth and Stewart previously collaborated at software development firm Oumi as interim chief product officer and head of AI field engineering for eight months before they co-established Blackletter.
The legaltech market has continued to see a wave of inbound investment this year. Last week, US AI-powered hybrid corporate law firm start-up Athena, co-founded in August by former Legora employees Cem Ucan and Kieran John Keenan, secured $2.5m in a pre-seed funding round.
The financing was led by a16z Speedrun, Andreessen Horowitz’s 12-week accelerator programme for early-stage technology investments.
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