Definely has raised a £2.2 million seed fund led by Microsoft
Definely has raised a £2.2 million seed fund led by Microsoft
Definely, a legal technology startup led by Nigerians, has raised £2.2 million in a new round of funding. This round of funding was led by Microsoft's venture capital fund, M12, with participation from CRE Venture Capital. Following a seed round in September 2020, the total amount of funding raised by the startup now stands at £3.4 million.
Definely, a London-based legaltech company, was founded in 2017 by Nnamdi Emelifeonwu, a Nigerian-born entrepreneur who currently serves as its CEO, and Feargus Macdaeid. The company uses artificial intelligence (AI) to make the drafting, reading, and understanding of contracts easier for users.
All of the stress that lawyers used to experience while sifting through endless pages of both soft and hard copies of legal documents in order to find and make sense of the important information they needed has been eliminated by the startup.
It is no longer news that leveraging technology to increase productivity is a sure-fire way to increase profits. According to a report by Wolter Kluwers, law firms that fully leverage technology today continue to outperform their peers in terms of increased profitability and winning new business. This is also true in the legal field.
Definely's business is simple: it assists law firms in leveraging technology. The startup claims to have developed intuitive software that streamlines the contract drafting and reviewing process for lawyers, allowing them to quickly access and edit key information with a single click from any point in their document, according to the startup.
Increase by 500%
The user base of the startup has increased by 500% year over year. There are some of the world's largest law firms and financial institutions as well as multinational corporations that make use of the system, including Deloitte, Allen and Overy, and Dentons, among others.
It also anticipates that its growth rate will increase even further, as it anticipates an exponential increase in the demand for and adoption of legal technology around the world. A major criterion for organizations looking to hire law firms, according to the startup, will be the use of technological tools.
This latest round of funding will be used, according to the legaltech company, “to accelerate its product development, expand its world-class team, and drive further expansion into markets outside of the United Kingdom.”
Nnamdi Emelifeonwu, co-founder and CEO of Definely, stated that legaltech is no longer a fledgling industry and is quickly becoming an integral part of how today's legal practitioners conduct their business.
“Legal technology is emerging from its infancy and becoming ingrained in the way that the modern-day lawyer conducts business. The use of a virtual assistant not only expedites the review and drafting process, but it also allows lawyers to be more accurate with their output because they never have to leave where they are working and lose context when working on a document,” he said.
Along the way, Definely has gained a significant amount of traction. During the 2021 Tech Nation Rising Stars competition, the startup was named one of the top ten most promising early-stage scaleups in the United Kingdom, among other honors.
Lastly
The startup was also one of six Nigerian-led startups to be selected for the first Google for Startups £2 million fund for Black Founders in Europe, which was launched in September. And, most recently, the startup was recognized with the KPMG Black Entrepreneurs' Awards, where it was named the "Most Promising Mature Business."
