Generative AI is increasingly revolutionizing the legal industry, with new startups offering specialized services beyond the capabilities of open-source models like OpenAI’s GPT-4. And one of the most promising verticals for this technology has been law, which has seen a surge of investment as up-and-comers receive lucrative funding from notable VCs.
Exclusive: Harvey, a legal generative AI startup, has just tapped Sequoia Capital to lead its Series A round at a $150 million post-money valuation. The Round was headed up by VC Pat Grady, known for successful investments in Notion, Hugging Face, and Attentive.
Harvey is the brainchild of two entrepreneurs, Gabriel Pereyra and Winston Weinberg. Gabriel is famous for his AI research stints at Meta, DeepMind, and Google Brain. Winston, on the other hand, is a former lawyer focused on antitrust and securities law. The tandem aims to bridge the gap between law and AI by helping everyday lawyers with their workflows — from document and legal research editing to help posed in natural language.
When Harvey first debuted into the market in November last year, it was met with much enthusiasm and secured $5 million in seed funding. The startup initiated relationships with notable investors such Jeff Dean of Google AI, Elad Gil, and Sarah Guo while also receiving a vote of confidence from OpenAI’s Startup Fund.
Afterword, Harvey saw its prospects soar and since then has accumulated a “waitlist that seems to be stacked with prospects.” Despite that, the startup currently boasts only two paid customers — international law firm Allen & Overy and an unknown consulting firm. Allen & Overy recently purchased about $1 million worth of usage tokens which, according to some sources, may be propping up the startup’s valuation.
Company:
Harvey is a legal generative AI startup that was founded in 2022 by Gabriel Pereyra and Winston Weinberg. The duo has merged their legal and AI expertise to offer AI assistance to everyday lawyers and improve workflows, from document and research editing to help posed in natural language. With the Series A funding, Harvey is poised to become a leader of the legal AI space.
Person:
Pat Grady is a venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital and is known for investments in Notion, Hugging Face and Attentive. He recently led Harvey’s Series A round at a $150 million post-money valuation. Grady is an experienced VC and has been in the game for over a decade now. He has been involved with a string of successful companies and shows no signs of slowing down.
