The number of capital raises in the period increased slightly, from 132 deals in 2024 to 134 deals in 2025, according to a Law360 Pulse analysis of readily available public data, including prior Law360 coverage, company statements, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, social media posts from companies or their leaders, and reports from Crunchbase and other trade publications.
Of those 134 deals this year, 24 did not disclose the funding total, compared to 29 last year.
Professional information solutions and services provider Wolters Kluwer raised the most funds in the first half of the year with a pair of €500 million ($584 million) Eurobonds in March and June, but the company making the splashiest capital raising of the period was arguably Harvey. The AI legal assistant, with which Law360 parent company LexisNexis Legal & Professional has an alliance, raised a $300 million Series D investment in February, followed by a $300 million Series E investment in June to reach a $5 billion valuation, making it one of the most valuable private legal tech companies today.
Harvey's funding rounds included household venture capital names such as Kleiner Perkins and Sequoia, which add more legitimacy to the legal tech industry, experts said.
"While some remain skeptical and see Harvey as overhyped, the broader trend continues: Most funding is still going to general-purpose AI applications or 'ChatGPT for lawyers,'" Zach Abramowitz, a legal tech investor and founder of the legal consulting firm Killer Whale Strategies, told Law360 Pulse. "Even though these tools are beginning to gain traction in-house, much of the focus is still on products sold to law firms."
Abramowitz added that the push to sell to law firms can be seen among heavyweight AI tools such as Harvey and the burgeoning European legal tool Legora, but also for other growing AI legal tools such as Eve, EvenUp and Spellbook.
Gordon Crenshaw, a partner at The LegalTech Fund, echoed that several large raises meant that legal tech funding had a strong first half of 2025.
"There's no question those rounds have elevated expectations across the board," Crenshaw told Law360 Pulse. "The industry will need to continue to demonstrate strong exits to substantiate the amount of early-stage capital invested in the space."
While AI tools gained a foothold in the legal field, Abramowitz said that some of the revenue numbers might be misperceived.
"A lot of revenue currently booked as [annual recurring revenue] may not be truly recurring," Abramowitz said. "In many cases, law firms are piloting these tools, sometimes testing multiple solutions at once, without the intention to adopt all of them long term."
As law firms shift from just experimenting with AI to long-term commitments, Crenshaw said that winners and losers will emerge among vendors.
"Long term, the opportunity is enormous," Crenshaw said. "Legal remains one of the few massive industries still undergoing digital transformation, and AI is accelerating that shift."
Global venture capital funding across all industries jumped from $82 billion in 2024 to $91 billion this year, with AI companies accounting for about 45% of the funding, according to Crunchbase News.
"The bigger concern for startups raising large rounds is that competition can emerge with far less capital," Abramowitz said. "Traditional moats may not hold in this space."
Abramowitz said a good example is NewCode.ai, which hasn't raised any outside funding but was recently selected by DLA Piper's European offices.
Biggest Funding Winners
Information services was the category of legal tech with the most funding in the quarter, at $1.13 billion, thanks entirely to Wolters Kluwer's Eurobonds.
Funding for legal AI assistants skyrocketed in the first half of the year, with $812.1 million, most of which came from Harvey's two $300 million rounds. Other notable raises included an €80.7 million Series B investment for Noxtua SE, which calls itself "Europe's first sovereign legal" AI, and an $80 million Series B for Legora.
Contract software companies secured about $300.9 million in funding, which is lower than what the category received years ago but an improvement from 2024. Luminance led the category with a $75 million Series C funding round. Ontra secured $70 million in debt financing. Contract lifecycle management software company SpotDaft raised $54 million in a Series B round.
Procurement management tools gained a lot of attention during the period, securing $183 million in funding. The AI procurement platform Levelpath raised $55 million in a Series B round, the enterprise procurement negotiation platform Pactum received $54 million in a Series C round and the spend optimization platform Vertice raised $50 million in a Series C funding round.
Platforms that optimize operations for in-house legal teams hauled in about $170.5 million. This included a $105 million Series A investment for Eudia.
The personal injury and plaintiff law firm tools Supio and Eve raised $60 million and $47 million, respectively, in the period, bringing the total raised in the category to $107 million.
Timekeeping tool Laurel secured $100 million in a Series C funding round in the first half of the year.
Software for patents and intellectual property tools raised about $57.1 million.
Justice technology companies secured about $47.9 million, largely stemming from a $45 million Series A for Justpoint.
Other notable categories that received sizable funding rounds of about $30 million or more include law firm practice management tools, legal document software, and tools for legal research, estate planning and financial legal services.
Consolidation Slows, but Still Excites
The number of mergers and acquisitions in legal tech fell from 80 last year to 74 during the first half. However, there were several significant deals.
Perhaps the most significant deal involved Clio buying the AI legal research platform vLex for $1 billion. The deal expanded the practice management giant's offerings from the business of law to the practice of law.
In another notable deal, a law firm acquired an AI company. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP bought Springbok AI in March to boost its data analytics capabilities.
Companies with a track record of acquisitions continued to buy companies in the first half of 2025. Examples include Litera acquiring Peppermint Technology, a Microsoft independent software vendor, and Morae Global Corp. acquiring the information governance software company Gimmal.
AI was another big theme in the period. Filevine acquired the AI-based deposition transcription tool Parrot, and Consilio LLC acquired the AI research provider TrueLaw.
There was also noteworthy consolidation of in-house tools. In the contract software space, Agiloft acquired the contract review platform Screens. Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory acquired the legal spend and matter management software company Brightflag for about €425 million.
Magna Legal Services had the most acquisitions in the period, with four. The court reporting and litigation support company Veritext had three acquisitions. Clio, Diligent, The L Suite and TransPerfect each had two acquisitions.
Nine acquisitions involved litigation support companies, six involved e-discovery companies, four involved contract software companies and four involved governance, risk and compliance for legal providers. Three private equity and investment firms acquired legal tech companies during the period.
Legal Tech's Current State of Play
Debt financing for legal team companies reached $1.23 billion during the first half, up from $1.17 billion the previous year.
In the first half, there were 16 pre-seed investments that totaled $30.6 million, 30 seed round investments that totaled $127.6 million, 19 Series A deals that totaled $421.6 million and seven Series B deals totaling $238.5 million.
Looking at the later rounds, which includes Rounds C, D, E and secondary market transactions, 10 deals totaled about $1.13 billion. There were no later round deals in the same period in 2024.
Geographically, the United States was the top recipient of funding in the first half. Investors poured $1.76 billion into U.S.-based legal tech companies, most of which were based in California.
The Netherlands received about $1.14 billion, thanks primarily to the Wolters Kluwer Eurobonds.
Companies in the U.K. received about $214 million in funding. Other countries with funding included Germany, Sweden, India, Spain, France, Australia, Singapore, Canada, Israel, Belgium, Japan and Brazil.
Over 300 investors funded legal tech companies in the period. The LegalTech Fund had the most capital raises with six, followed by five for Y Combinator, four for Alumni Ventures, and four for General Catalyst.
Will we see the same level of legal tech funding in the second half of 2025?
Crenshaw said the ingredients for continued momentum exist, as there's a strong desire to innovate, but he is keeping a close eye on how generalist investors outside legal tech behave. As many have made an initial bet on legal tech, Crenshaw said their ability to double down or look elsewhere could shape how the second half of the year plays out for early-stage companies.
"The best companies being built today are solving foundational problems in legal, and that's where long-term, sustainable value gets created," Crenshaw said.
If nothing else, Abramowitz said that the fear of missing out will likely keep funding flowing into the AI assistant category.
"At the same time, I expect to see more specialized, narrowly focused products start to attract investor interest," Abramowitz said. "Tools that solve specific legal pain points are likely to stand out over those trying to be everything at once."
--Additional reporting by Ashish Sareen, Matt Perez, Sarah Martinson and Benjamin Morse. Editing by Robert Rudinger.
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