Legal task automation startup Josef raises $5.2 million
Legal automation startup Josef has raised $5.2 million in what the company calls “pre-series” capital.
The round led by OIF Ventures, backed by existing investor Carthona Capital and Flying Fox Ventures, Jelix Ventures and Saniel Ventures.
Founded in 2018 by attorneys Tom Dreyfus and Sam Flynn and engineer Kirill Kliavin, the company previously raised $2.5 million led in May 2021 and $1 million in 2019 in what was described as a Seed round.
The new capital will be used to target growth companies with in-house legal teams, and to expand their headcount in the US and the APAC region after launching in North America and Europe last year.
The no-code software platform automates legal tasks, including drafting documents, providing legal guidance and advice, and users can even build bots for client interviews. The firm counts law firms including Gunderson Dettmer, Clifford Chance and MinterEllison as clients.
CEO and co-founder Tom Dreyfus said the company has been working with its clients over the past 18 months to integrate with core systems in the legal technology stack, such as DocuSign, Salesforce, Office 365 and iManage.
“Josef is no longer just about helping legal practitioners improve their effectiveness and efficiency through technology, although this is still a core part of our offering,” he said.
“We are an innovation partner helping the industry automate the nitty-gritty so teams can better serve the people they serve. While we’ve always focused on solving problems for both internal teams and law firms, we’re now able to help the millions of corporate legal teams around the world do better.
“We have created a simple yet powerful automation platform that anyone in the legal trade can use. Our focus is now on helping the global industry realize what is possible.”
Carthona Capital partner Dean Dorrell said Josef is a truly global company.
“Being from the industry themselves, the founders really understand the problem and the nuances needed to make their efforts a success,” he said.
“The business has continued to grow from strength to strength and is clearly becoming more important to the end customer as it matures. We see a future where every lawyer has a Josef workplace at their fingertips. From the talent they hire to the partnerships they form, they solve big challenges incredibly well.”
