A Scottish technology company has raised $70 million to accelerate the development of its AI platform that aims to transform process work for in-house legal teams.
It is the second round of venture capital funding attracted by Edinburgh-based Wordsmith AI, which raised $25m in Series A in June of last year. Index Ventures led the Series A round and has followed up its initial investment by participating in the second round, which has also been backed by Highland Europe.
The latest funding injection comes amid a period of rapid growth at the company, which was co-founded by lawyer turned tech entrepreneur Ross McNairn, with recent customer wins including Sage and Starling.
The Wordsmith technology is now used by more than 500 companies, including BT Group, Financial Times, Safelite, Trip.com and Canva.
In addition to accelerating the development of its AI platform, Wordsmith plans to use the funding to increase its headcount towards 300 people globally by the end of the year and ramp up its expansion in the US. The company, which has offices in Edinburgh, London and New York, is also striving to meet growing demand from corporate legal departments looking to bring more work in-house and cut spending on outside counsel.
Mr McNairn, a former chief technology officer of TravelPerk and head of product at Skyscanner, said: “Legal does not need another filing cabinet, and it does not need another Copilot that simply helps one lawyer work faster.
“Wordsmith is the front door that does the work. Requests come in, AI agents process the routine, lawyers approve what needs judgment, and every step is recorded as it happens. We are building the system Legal runs on: one place where work comes in, gets owned, gets completed and measured.”
Jean Tardy-Joubert, partner at Highland Europe, said: “What is most exciting about Wordsmith is that this is a tool built for companies, rightfully involving all employees in legal affairs, in coordination with the in-house legal team. By taking a vertical approach, Ross and the Wordsmith team have established themselves at the forefront of the sector, with demonstrable market traction, impressive growth and more than 500 satisfied customers.”
Article published in The Herald, Wednesday, June 3rd.