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MDR Lab alumni company DraftWise secures $20 million in Series A funding

MDR Lab alumni company DraftWise secures $20 million in Series A funding

DraftWise, a legal technology startup and alumni of Mishcon de Reya‘s MDR Lab, has completed a $20 million Series A funding round. The investment, led by Index Ventures with contributions from Y Combinator and Earlybird Digital East Ventures, marks a significant milestone in the company’s growth and the continued investor interest in AI-driven legal technology

14 March 2024

Mishcon de Reya agrees commercial relationship with LegalTech startup ayora

Mishcon de Reya agrees commercial relationship with LegalTech startup ayora

Mishcon de Reya is delighted to announce that it has entered into a commercial relationship with ayora, a London-based startup that empowers lawyers as revenue managers. Earlier this year, ayora, co-founded by Stefan Ciesla, a former principal investor in professional services, and scientific technologist Dr. Gordon McKenzie, PhD, took part in the firm’s MDR Lab

13 December 2023

DraftWise tests its latest generative AI features with MDR Lab

DraftWise tests its latest generative AI features with MDR Lab

Last week, Draftwise, a leading AI legal platform, met with leadership from Mishcon de Reya’s LegalTech incubator and investment arm, MDR Lab, to field test its latest generative AI features and garner critical feedback from legal professionals. DraftWise CEO, James Ding, as well as leadership from the DraftWise product and AI research teams, joined Nick

24 October 2023

Spotlight on ayora

Spotlight on ayora

Stefan Ciesla and Gordon McKenzie are the co-founders of legaltech start-up Ayora, the company behind the Smart Lockup Assistant, a system for improving revenue outcomes at law firms. Smart Lockup Assistant empowers fee earners to drastically improve realisation and working capital on their cases. It harnesses the power of data science to bring actionable insights

4 October 2023

Spotlight on Martello

Spotlight on Martello

Henry Crosby is the CEO and co-founder of Martello, a digital platform that is building the first live property search database to help speed up the home buying process. Henry is a geospatial data scientist by training and started his career doing a Ph.D. at the University of Warwick funded by proptech start-up Nimbus Maps,

28 September 2023

Spotlight on ApprentAI

Spotlight on ApprentAI

Or Bar and Matan-Yah Ben Zion are the founders of Israeli-based ApprentAI, a generative AI document review platform that uses an algorithmic approach to case and document analysis, helping litigators to find meaningful insights and evidence in cases to gain deeper understanding. Or started his professional journey in the Israeli Defense Forces’ Military Advocate General,

19 September 2023

MDR Lab Alumni company DraftWise raises $5 million funding

MDR Lab Alumni company DraftWise raises $5 million funding

US-based legaltech start-up and MDR Lab Alumni company DraftWise has raised $5 million in a seed funding round led by venture capitalist firm Earlybird. DraftWise, which was founded in 2020 by former Palantir and Google engineers James Ding, Emre Ozen, and former Clifford Chance senior associate Ozan Yalt, is a Gen AI contract drafting, knowledge

29 June 2023

Dan Sinclair on product ‘defensibility’ and the future of MDR Lab for Law.com

Dan Sinclair on product ‘defensibility’ and the future of MDR Lab for Law.com

Following MDR Lab’s latest cohort announcement, head of MDR Lab Dan Sinclair was interviewed by Law.com about the history of the programme, what the Lab are looking for, and the what the last five years have taught them. The interview also explored wider trends in the legal tech market, including how the Lab team are

14 June 2023

Three startups join summer MDR Lab programme

Three startups join summer MDR Lab programme

Mishcon de Reya is thrilled to announce the addition of three promising early-stage companies to its product-focused MDR Lab programme. Over the coming 12 weeks, the companies will get the opportunity to work closely with lawyers and other stakeholders from around the MDR Group to pilot and improve their products. These additions mean that MDR

1 June 2023

Spotlight on SettleIndex

Spotlight on SettleIndex

Zac Best and Robert Hogarth are the founders of SettleIndex. Zac’s background is in digital product management and Robert was formerly a Senior Partner at RPC. SettleIndex a financial and risk modelling platform that enables lawyers to model, visualize and evaluate disputes and collect and use data to inform litigation strategy. What motivated you to

13 December 2022

How to sell to BigLaw in 30 days

How to sell to BigLaw in 30 days

Legal tech procurement does not exactly have a reputation for being expeditious. Lawyers, being famously detail-oriented, are thorough in the diligence of new software. Law firms take seriously the questions of, “does this solve a real problem?”, “will our lawyers actually use this?”, and “does it meet our security requirements?” Given lawyers’ predilection for careful

8 December 2022

Mishcon de Reya announces commercial deal with recent MDR Lab alumni Version Story

Mishcon de Reya announces commercial deal with recent MDR Lab alumni Version Story

After finishing the most recent cycle of the MDR Lab programme in late September 2022, Mishcon de Reya is delighted to announce that it has signed a new commercial agreement with US-based legal tech start-up, Version Story. Founded by Kevin O’Connell, a Stanford-trained lawyer turned software developer and Jordan Bryan software engineer, Version Story helps

1 December 2022