Legal startup Josef raises $5.2 million in pre-series round

Legal automation startup, Josef, has closed a $5.2 million pre-series round led by OIF Ventures, taking its total capital raised to $8.7 million.

The funding round, which also included Carthona Capital, Flying Fox Ventures, Jelix Ventures and Saniel Ventures, will support the startup as it doubles down on its mission to transform global legal services.

Josef said it will use the new funds to bolster its strong growth in the in-house space. Current well-known customers include Nutanix, CoreLogic, Bupa, and Who Gives A Crap.

This funding will also expand its reach globally through several new hires in the US, alongside APAC, following successful launches in North America and Europe last year.

Josef has spent the past 18 months working in partnership with its customers to ensure that its product development is aligned with their business needs. This focus has led to integration with core systems in the legal technology stack, like DocuSign, Salesforce, Office 365 and iManage.

Tom Dreyfus, CEO and co-founder at Josef said the business has matured to become the infrastructure layer on which the future of automated legal service delivery is being built.

He said, “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. We’re an innovation partner helping the sector automate the nitty gritty so that teams can better assist the people they serve.”

While they have always focused on solving problems for both in-house teams and law firms, Dreyfus said Josef is now in a position to help the millions of corporate legal teams globally do better.

He said, “Whether this be helping address unmet justice needs or streamlining operations so that the work that makes a difference can be prioritised, we’ve created a simple but impactful automation platform that anyone in the legal trade can use. Our focus is now on helping the global industry realise just what is possible.”

It was the team’s passion, and Josef’s compelling combination of a highly skilled and capable founder team that attracted OIF Ventures, Jerry Stesel, partner and co-founder at Josef

“Having worked as lawyers themselves, Dreyfus and Sam Flynn have an authentic passion and drive to make the industry more efficient, freeing up valuable time for lawyers to focus on critical, high-value work,” he said.

“When investing we look for a business that has both a solid understanding of their customer’s needs, but also longevity in their ability to service that need. What’s exciting about Josef is its potential once a customer is onboard – the platform’s scope never stops growing.”

Josef was established in Melbourne by lawyers Tom Dreyfus and Sam Flynn, and engineer Kirill Kliavin.

The software enables legal professionals to easily build digital tools that automate their day-to-day work, from streamlining intake, to drafting contracts and providing advice.

Some of its customers include Gunderson Dettmer, Clifford Chance and MinterEllison.