Investments in artificial intelligence (AI) are high right now. Just recently, international law firm Slaughter and May backed AI startup Luminance as part of a $10m (£7.5m) funding round.
Following this funding round, the company is now estimated to be worth around $50m (£27m) all together.
Led by private venture firm Talis Capital, Luminance will use these new funds to expand its operations across the United States, open a new hub over in Asia, and to provide further support to its existing headquarters based in Chicago.
The international law firm first took an interest in the AI startup last year when it acquired a 5% equity stake in the business. In return, Luminance helped Slaughter and May develop its own bespoke AI software.
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“The knowledge we have gained through piloting, testing and using the software on live transactions gives us real confidence in what we consider to be a highly differentiated due diligence tool,” said Slaughters City corporate partner, Sally Wokes.
“Our decision to invest in this latest funding round reflects our belief in Luminance and our commitment to harnessing innovation for the benefit of our clients.”
Just a few years ago, Luminance was formed in Cambridge and already the startup has the leading AI platform available for those in the legal profession.
The company’s revolutionary technology automatically reads and understands legal contracts and can save law firms thousands of man hours of work every single year.
The new round of funding was initiated to expand its operations to the greater world. “It’s really just about having enough people to meet the demand. We’re not operationally heavy but our customers want a relationship with the Luminance team no matter where they are,” confirmed Luminance chief executive Emily Foges.
“We’ve opened Chicago with view to boosting that presence in the US and we are scouting out a presence in APAC region.”
One country that would make sense to utilise in terms of accessing the US West Coast, is Singapore. And for that reason, “We will send a scouting to party to Singapore in January,” confirmed Foges.
Some of the Luminance’s other major international clients include Uria Menendez Araoz & Rueda in Europe, Gilbert + Tobin in Australia, and Cravath Swaine & Moore in the US.
Source LegalWeek
