How This 25-Year-Old Built A $675M Legal AI Startup (With No Legal Experience)
Y Combinator·2025-08-26 14:01

Legora's Core Business & AI Integration - Legora is building an AI-powered workspace for lawyers, transforming how they review, draft, and research legal documents [3][4] - The company leverages generative AI to solve various legal use cases, such as summarizing court cases, reading stock option contracts, and building end-to-end systems for legal professionals [7][8] - Legora integrates directly into Microsoft Word, bringing generative AI into the existing work environment of legal professionals [16][23] - Key features include chat over documents, tabular review for large document sets, and playbooks for automated contract negotiation [16][20][42] Market Dynamics & Competitive Advantage - The legal tech industry has historically been fragmented with unsexy point solutions, but generative AI has disrupted this landscape [4][6][7] - Legora differentiates itself by offering a compliant system for law firms, addressing data processing requirements in Europe [9] - The company's velocity and ability to out-deliver larger competitors with a smaller team (100 people vs thousands) is a key advantage [57] - Law firms are increasingly open to adopting AI solutions due to client price pressure and the need to maintain competitiveness [32][34] Growth & Strategy - Legora raised $80 million in a Series B round led by iconic and general catalyst [15] - The company is expanding across Europe and into the US, with hubs in New York, London, and Stockholm [88] - A key strategy is to align incentives with law firms, positioning Legora as a long-term partner in their AI adoption [33][34] - Legora emphasizes hiring entrepreneurs and fostering a culture of ambition and problem-solving [91][97] Future of Legal Work - The role of lawyers is evolving towards reviewing work and managing AI agents, rather than solely performing tasks manually [100] - AI is enabling lawyers to perform tasks that were previously impossible, such as redlining files against playbooks and conducting deep research across large volumes of judgments [28] - The company aims to be the category leader in AI law, serving as a strategic partner to large firms in their transition to AI-driven workflows [110][112]