A post by Artificial Lawyer provides a clear summary of the trend in the first half of 2021, “Legal Tech Funding Hits $1.4BN, While M&A Soars.” Here, James Goodnow writes about “The Insider’s View On Legaltech VC Funding,” with some salient funding insights from Kira CEO and co-founder, Noah Waisberg. Kira was recently acquired by Litera.

But the reality is that investments are clipping along at fast pace. It’s hard to keep up. I could not find a post which captured the current rounds, so I created a spreadsheet of the past 12 months of legal tech IPOs and funding rounds (Series A and higher). I’m not claiming that it is comprehensive. I’m sure that I’ve missed a few. If you have any to add or any corrections to offer, please let me know via: contact at mobilehelix dot com.

On November 23, 2021, transcription company Verbit announced that they had closed $250 million in a Series E round that values the company at $2 billion. That’s after raising $157 million in a Series D in June 2021 at over $1 billion valuation, making it one of the first unicorns in legal tech. (To be accurate, Verbit serves more than the legal tech market.)

Also in November, Grammarly, another company with business in legal and beyond, raised $400 million at a valuation of $13 billion. I had to double-check that. Wow. Grammarly has a tool which corrects and improves writing.

Here’s my earlier post on unicorns in legal tech, “We have FOMO in legal tech!”

-Maureen