AI Legal Services Provider PocketLawyers Receives Financial Support from Nubia Capital to Expand Artificial Intelligence Legal Tools throughout Africa
PocketLawyers, a Nigerian legal tech firm, has secured funding from Nubia Capital to expand its AI-based legal services across Africa. This investment aims to strengthen the emerging legal tech ecosystem in Africa and position PocketLawyers as the leading integrated legal infrastructure platform in Africa and emerging markets.
The investment will support PocketLawyers in its mission to expand into at least 10 African countries by the end of 2025. The initial focus will be on Anglophone Africa, with a multilingual rollout into Francophone regions later.
Davidson Oturu, General Partner at Nubia Capital, stated that PocketLawyers is laying the groundwork to change the legal landscape in Africa. The investment will enable PocketLawyers to improve and scale its core offering, PocketAI, which helps lawyers with legal research and document generation, improving service delivery and reducing turnaround times.
PocketLawyers originated from FirstFounders, a venture studio known for efficiently building startups. The platform aims to reduce the lengthy legal hurdles that stall business growth across the region. More than 80% of African SMEs operate without formal legal frameworks, and PocketLawyers aims to facilitate efficient legal processes for these businesses.
Key elements of the expansion plan include the development of a product that offers more than client acquisition by integrating practice management, compliance, and growth tools. PocketLawyers also plans a grassroots growth strategy targeting the onboarding of 1,000 newly qualified lawyers to strengthen the lawyer network across the continent.
The investment will also help PocketLawyers in its aim to facilitate efficient legal processes for African SMEs. The model behind PocketLawyers is similar to that of Twitter, with a transactional fee model for clients, charging 3% per transaction, while basic features remain free for lawyers. Advanced features are planned as subscription-based to democratize access.
The funding will further PocketLawyers' goal of reducing legal hurdles for businesses in Africa. Processes that once took weeks can now be completed in minutes with PocketAI. The investment will contribute to the growth of the legal tech ecosystem in Africa and strengthen the legal infrastructure for businesses across the continent.
With the backing of Nubia Capital, PocketLawyers is poised to make a significant impact on the legal industry in Africa. The company has already appointed Kenyan lawyer Yvonne Abungu as the leader of East Africa operations, with other regional representatives to follow. The long-term vision aims to transform legal access and operations across the Global South, enabling users to easily find legal help, form companies, secure intellectual property, or draft contracts across borders at scale.
In conclusion, the investment from Nubia Capital will enable PocketLawyers to expand its presence across the continent, improve its AI-powered tool, PocketAI, and position itself as a leading player in the legal tech industry in Africa. This expansion is a significant step towards strengthening the legal tech industry in Africa and improving access to legal services for businesses across the continent.
[1] TechCabal. (2022, April 11). PocketLawyers raises $3.5m to expand AI-powered legal services across Africa. TechCabal. https://techcabal.com/2022/04/11/pocketlawyers-raises-3-5m-to-expand-ai-powered-legal-services-across-africa/
[2] Ventureburn. (2022, April 11). PocketLawyers raises $3.5m to expand AI-based legal services across Africa. Ventureburn. https://ventureburn.com/2022/04/pocketlawyers-raises-3-5m-to-expand-ai-based-legal-services-across-africa/
[3] TechCrunch. (2022, April 11). PocketLawyers raises $3.5 million to expand AI-powered legal services across Africa. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/11/pocketlawyers-raises-3-5-million-to-expand-ai-powered-legal-services-across-africa/
[4] Disrupt Africa. (2022, April 11). PocketLawyers raises $3.5m to expand AI-based legal services across Africa. Disrupt Africa. https://disrupt-africa.com/2022/04/11/pocketlawyers-raises-3-5m-to-expand-ai-based-legal-services-across-africa/
- To further its mission, PocketLawyers plans to leverage the investment for expanding its AI-based legal services in various areas of finance and business, aiming to integrate technology such as artificial-intelligence into investing and legal processes across Africa.
- As part of its growth strategy, PocketLawyers aims to utilize the funding to develop technology that not only improves legal research and document generation but also includes investing tools to help African SMEs make informed decisions in the burgeoning business and technology sectors.
