Many industries have used technology to improve their performance, and the legal industry is no exception. Thanks to technology and investors that understand the need to invest in these businesses to speed their growth, new inventive solutions to make life easier and services more accessible emerge on a daily basis.
After obtaining $1.8 million in initial funding from multiple institutions and angel investors, Hence Technologies, a Kigali and London-based firm that utilizes data and AI to match firms with external legal service providers, is prepared to expand its accuracy matching engine. This takes the company’s total funding to $2.6 million thus far.
Daybreak Partners, Broad Creek Capital, a global private investment company founded by two former lawyers Matthew Ruesch and Michael W. Green, Daglar Cizmeci, and a number of additional angel investors participated in the round.
Hence Technologies was created in 2020, matches internal legal teams of its clients with external legal service providers using data from a variety of sources, allowing it to propose lawyers depending on the nature of the assignment, geography, and cost factors.
After a progressive trial with a US-based investment firm and a London-based insurance startup, the venture was certified. Its next stage of expansion will focus on even larger firms with larger legal expenditures and needs.
Heitkamp, who co-founded the venture with Sean West and Arun Shanmuganathan, said that the company is working with huge organizations since it is essentially a self-contained marketplace and that they have already worked with numerous lawyers and law firms. The company’s current team is based in Kigali, Rwanda, one of Africa’s most well-known innovation centers.
Heitkamp explained that in order to assure perfect matching, they had to combine data (both quantitative and qualitative) from many sources, including client billing systems, to create recommendation systems that aid organizations in making decisions.
Heitkamp stated that they intend to use the funds to expand the team, particularly in terms of technical talent, as well as increase marketing spending. They’ve already hired someone with a background in marketing and experience working with legal firms.
Techbuild’s Take
The world as we know it is changing rapidly and evolving, thanks to high intelligence technologies.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the main drivers of this revolution in startups. AI upheaval has impacted various industries as a result of enterprise adoption of deep learning and machine learning algorithms. Because of AI’s extraordinary growth, it will most certainly impact every industry in the near future.
However, AI’s impact in the legal field is more of a development, and a good one at that. Many individuals are using mobile apps to receive medical treatment, but the legal business appears to be unprepared for the impending change before now. Apart from its conservative attitude, which discourages innovation, the bulk of the Legal Industry views AI as a nightmare scenario that would result in job losses or disrupt the status quo.
AI plays a significant part in the legal sector’s modernization. With this in mind, companies like Hence Technologies, which recognizes the relevance of AI, have devised brilliant new strategies. Because it’s tough to know who to hire in the legal realm, these startups are making the process of seeking legal counsel easier.
Heitkamp, the co-founder, stated that very little data and information is used to influence hiring selections. They also thought that the corporations were squandering an opportunity to use data from their own experiences. If a corporation spends $200 million per year, there is an opportunity to learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t.
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