SpotDraft faucets AI – An increasing number of authorized professionals are embracing AI, surveys present. Per a latest ballot from legaltech firm Clio, 79% of corporations used some type of AI for casework final yr, up from simply 19% in 2023. Regardless of some skepticism of the tech, in-house counsel has proven an curiosity, as properly, with one survey suggesting that just about half of attorneys assume AI can yield value financial savings for his or her departments.
Legaltech suppliers are popping up left and proper to fulfill the demand. SpotDraft, which focuses on constructing contract automation and administration software program, is one such relative newcomer. Based in 2017, SpotDraft sells instruments to assist in-house authorized groups simplify their contracting duties.
Shashank Bijapur, Madhav Bhagat, and Rohith Salim had been on SpotDraft’s launch staff. Bijapur, the corporate’s CEO, says that the concept for SpotDraft got here to him whereas he was an affiliate at Bengaluru-based legislation agency White & Case, which handled excessive volumes of company contracts.
SpotDraft’s platform makes use of AI to extract key particulars and clauses from contracts, offering summaries of modifications and recommended follow-up work. A unified activity middle exhibits upcoming deadlines, renewal reminders, and particular person and staff jobs, serving to orgs keep organized — at the least in principle.
Considered one of SpotDraft’s AI-powered options, VerifAI, faucets AI to evaluation contracts in opposition to a particular information or template. One other, ClickThrough, retains all contract agreements in a devoted, centralized repository, and lets customers search throughout and make reviews with them.
SpotDraft competes for shoppers in opposition to distributors like LinkSquares, DocuSign-owned Lexion, Workday’s Evisort, and Filevine. But it surely’s holding its personal, based on Bijapur. SpotDraft at the moment has round 400 clients, and the corporate’s year-over-year income grew 169% final yr.
“We imagine 2025 can be an inflection level for staff SpotDraft,” Bijapur stated. “We’re strongly dedicated to deepening the usage of AI within the product to assist authorized groups unlock efficiencies and drive innovation.”
Buyers appear happy with SpotDraft’s progress trajectory. This week, the corporate introduced that it raised $54 million in a Collection B spherical led by Vertex Ventures Singapore with participation from Trident Companions.
It in all probability didn’t harm that the broader legaltech sector is seeing an infusion of funds after a tough few fiscal quarters. In 2024, VC funding in legaltch reached $2.6 billion, per funding database Pitchbook, up from a decline of lower than $1 billion invested in 2023.
Bringing the corporate’s whole raised to simply over $80 million, the brand new money can be put towards R&D, market growth, and rising SpotDraft’s 250-person workforce throughout New York — SpotDraft’s HQ — and Bengaluru.
Bijapur says that SpotDraft is creating an “agentic answer” to assist in-house counsel obtain “strategic enterprise outcomes.” He wouldn’t reveal precisely what type this answer will take, however unsurprisingly, AI is concerned.
“Conventional authorized work is sure by the ‘{dollars} by the hour’ mannequin, the place inefficiency is usually baked into the system,” Bijapur stated. “The agentic answer will work together with different instruments that the in-house staff makes use of. This may cut back the period of time spent on studying and configuring instruments, permitting the staff to give attention to strategic work.”