Edinburgh AI startup Wordsmith raises $5m to automate legal tasks

Edinburgh AI startup Wordsmith raises $5m to automate legal tasks

Pictured (L-R): Wordsmith COO Robbie Falkenthal, CEO Ross McNairn, and CTO Volodymyr Giginiak

Edinburgh-based AI legal assistant platform Wordsmith has raised $5 million (around £3.94m).

The seed funding was led by Index Ventures, with participation from General Catalyst and angel investors including Skyscanner founder Gareth Williams.

Wordsmith was founded in 2023 by Ross McNairn, Volodymyr Giginiak and Robbie Falkenthal. After training as a lawyer, McNairn sold his first startup to Skyscanner in 2016 and most recently was chief product and technology officer at Travelperk.

The company said it is solving the critical problem faced by in-house legal teams of having an overwhelming volume of routine tasks that leave lawyers struggling to keep up with the demands of the business.

Mr Giginiak, one of the first engineers at Meta in London who worked for a decade in key roles at Facebook and Instagram, was helping to implement anti-drone technology for the Ukrainian army before joining Wordsmith.

Mr Falkenthal, COO, is a qualified lawyer who has previously held senior roles at KPMG and Travelperk.

Wordsmith CEO Ross McNairn said: “AI is not about replacing professionals. It’s about making them better at their jobs. Just as the word processor didn’t replace writers, but instead made them more productive, Wordsmith is ushering in a new era of AI-assisted professional services.”

The company said its customers get 90 per cent of the through-put of a world-class lawyer and a 99 per cent cost reduction versus going to a law firm – within 60 seconds.

Hannah Seal, the partner at Index Ventures who led the investment, commented: “Wordsmith is at the vanguard of a fundamental shift in how professional services are delivered. It’s not about replacement but augmentation.

“By harnessing the power of generative AI, they’re not only transforming the legal industry, but also paving the way for a future in which AI-assisted professionals can provide better, faster, and more affordable services to their clients.”

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