PocketLaw files suit against traditional legal system fees, wins $11 million Series A settlement

When it comes to running a business, above all else, there are two key players you don’t want to skimp on, your accountant and your lawyer. Both of which come at a cost.

Looking to circumvent the (arguably) extortionate hourly rates legal services are oft to charge, Stockholm-based PocketLaw has raised $11 million in a Series A funding round. On the docket, the firm will use the settlement to continue expansion efforts across Europe as they ramp up operations in the UK and continue to grow legal, technical, and operations teams. To date, the legaltech has pocketed over $14 million.

A direct result of Sweden’s startup sabbatical system, in 2018 Olga Beck-Friis took a six-month unpaid break from McKinsey & Company and had a good hard look at the backwoods nature of the legal industry. With industry after industry going all-in on digitalisation, Beck-Friis saw the opportunity and together with childhood friend Kira Unger, made the leap of faith.

Focusing on contract creation and management, PocketLaw provides businesses both large and small with a library of services, removing the legal complexities of day-to-day operations, all at a fraction of the cost and 80% faster when compared to their traditional counterparts.

Beyond automated templates, e-signatures, and storage services, PocketLaw does the hand holding and incorporates proprietary content that guides users through the legal document creation process as well as offering an 'FAQ' of the most common legal questions and topics.

“The majority of day-to-day legal work is simple, recurring tasks - despite this businesses currently spend an endless amount of time and resources handling contracts manually and inexpertly, and spend a considerable sum of money soliciting professional legal advice,” explained CEO Kira Unger. “Using technology to build scalable, user-friendly tools is the only way companies will be able to maintain speed whilst keeping up with an increasingly complex regulatory landscape. We estimate that our customers save up to fourteen working weeks and up to $200,000 in legal fees a year by using our intuitive, tech-enabled solutions.” 

PocketLaw counts scaling startups including Voi, Kry/Livi, Juni, and Estrid, as well as global enterprise brands Babybjorn and Schibsted amongst its client base.  

Babybjorn’s Head of Legal, David Grünbaum commented, “With PocketLaw, I can be sure that we maintain our standard without having to review every single contract drafted ”.

The Swedish solicitors’ $11 million Series A round was led by Judge Zennström’s bench, a.k.a Atomico, and saw jury members Hanno Renner and Jonas Rieke (Personio), Christian Reber (Pitch), Jeppe Rindom (​​Pleo), Gloria Baeuerlein (formerly of Index Ventures, Kry), Allison Pickens (dbt Labs, The New Normal Fund) all ruling. Existing jurors including Kinnevik’s Cristina Stenbeck and Susanna Campbell were also observed in the courtroom.

Atomico’s Ben Blume, who joins the PocketLaw board as part of the investment stated to court reporters, “Kira and Olga have built an amazing team at PocketLaw, bringing world-class commercial, legal and technical experience from Slack, LinkedIn, Google, Zalando, KRY, Spotify, Acast, Mannheimer Swartling, and Hogan Lovells. They are all aligned around the belief that businesses can alleviate huge burdens by making everyday legal more intuitive and efficient - lessening cost, risk, and wasted time in the process.”