AnthroTek, a Cambridge-based startup specialising in synthetic anatomy, has achieved a pioneering milestone by securing £950,000 in seed funding using Legal AI technology from Genie AI. This represents a significant departure from traditional legal processes, which typically involve costly law firm fees and protracted turnaround times. Instead of engaging law firms charging between £15,000 and £20,000 for the management of seed-round legal work, AnthroTek utilised Genie AI’s platform on a modest £30-per-month subscription. This tool efficiently drafted, reviewed, and negotiated all crucial documents, including shareholder agreements, articles of association, term sheets, and subscription agreements. The result: a dramatic reduction in legal costs—by approximately 90%—and a faster, more streamlined funding process that slashed turnaround times from weeks to just days.

To date, AnthroTek has raised £1.15 million at a £10.5 million pre-money valuation, with a further £550,000 tranche anticipated within the next year. The financial savings enabled by the use of AI legally empowered the startup to direct more capital toward product development and growth, crucial for early-stage companies where budget constraints are tight. Nazmus Tareque, AnthroTek’s Co-Founder and Chief Commercial Officer, reflected on the benefits, noting that Genie AI also handled ancillary agreements such as Material Transfer Agreements, IP assignments, and NDAs. He highlighted the frustration many founders feel around traditional legal costs and expressed confidence that AI’s value proposition will disrupt conventional legal services by providing better value and efficiency.

Seed rounds in the UK are traditionally expensive, with legal fees frequently consuming 2-5% of capital raised. It is not unusual for overall legal expenses, including investor fees, to surpass £200,000, draining vital resources that could otherwise be allocated to hiring or innovation. Legal work in these rounds typically involves 50-60 hours from lawyers commanding average hourly rates around £350, much of which pertains to repetitive and automatable tasks. Genie AI targets these inefficiencies by automating drafting, review, and negotiation processes, thereby cutting out intermediaries, accelerating deal closures, and enabling founders and investors to deploy capital more efficiently. This not only enhances growth prospects but also allows investors to realise returns more quickly. As Rafie Faruq, Genie AI’s Co-Founder and CEO, stated, the elimination of costly legal bottlenecks sets a new benchmark in trust and speed for startup financing.

Genie AI itself is a trailblazer in the legal tech space, having recently raised substantial funding—in the tens of millions—from major investors such as Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures to enhance its AI-driven legal drafting and risk review capabilities. Its platform supports users across over 120 jurisdictions and has been embraced by more than 150,000 companies globally, including FTSE100 firms and prestigious law firms. Advanced features such as “SuperDrafter” integrate law firm knowledge bases to provide smart contract suggestions and improve drafting accuracy, resulting in significant efficiency gains for legal professionals. Industry observers note that the intersection of AI and legal services is reshaping the landscape, enabling companies to manage greater volumes of legal work in-house while avoiding traditional firm fees.

The broader implications for UK entrepreneurship have garnered attention from influential figures, including Nat Wei, Baron Wei, Member of the House of Lords and a Genie AI user. He highlighted how autonomous legal agents, exemplified by Genie AI's technology, can democratise access to legal support, remove barriers of cost and time, and drive innovation and growth across the economy. As AI continues to disrupt legal norms, startups like AnthroTek provide a compelling proof of concept that could herald a new era where legal AI becomes integral to startup funding rounds, unlocking capital and reducing friction in one of the most challenging aspects of early-stage investment.

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Source: Noah Wire Services