Tech
Check out the 12-slide pitch deck a Black lawyer used to raise millions from SoftBank for his legal advice startup Robin AI
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- Robin AI has raised $3.3 million from SoftBank after participating in the SoftBank Emerge Program.
- Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield also joined the round alongside Episode 1 and Forward Partners.
- Check out the 12-slide pitch deck that the legal tech startup used to convince investors.
Robin AI, a startup that makes legal contracts easier to draft and negotiate, has raised £2.5 million ($3.3 million) in fresh funds from SoftBank and Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield.
The seed extension, which brings Robin AI’s total funding to £5 million ($6.6 million), will be used to expand the company’s headcount and accelerate product development.
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In 2019, cofounder Richard Robinson quit his job at a law firm to launch Robin AI in an effort to democratize the legal industry. The startup does this by combining machine learning with legal professionals. It aims to make contracts more affordable and accessible by automating repetitive but time-consuming tasks that can be costly to those seeking help.
“People – like my parents who both started businesses on the side of their full-time jobs because they saw that as a way to progress – they should not be shut out of world-class legal advice,” the Robin AI chief executive told Insider.
“We have the technology to make it available to everybody. I am determined to deliver that for lots of people or at least give it my best shot. We will deliver products that are addressable to the entire world.”
The startup currently focuses on business contracts. Any sector with a long supply chain is its target, and existing customers include law firms and corporates such as Clifford Chance, Foot Anstey, Pizza Hut, and Babylon Health.
Existing investors Episode 1, once a backer of music-recognition app Shazam, and publicly-listed firm Forward Partners, whose portfolio includes Cazoo and Patch, also participated in the funding round
The startup opted for a seed extension to expand its team and product offering before raising a Series A, which will be used to enter the US market.
“We need a lot of capital because we want to make a real statement,” Robinson said. “We’ve seen companies in the past who attempt to go to the US with not quite enough money, not quite enough energy, not quite enough effort, and it doesn’t really work out. We don’t want to do that. We’d like a significant amount of capital before we do that.”
At 25 people, Robin AI is set to double its headcount, with a focus on filling senior roles. The company is specifically on the hunt for a head of sales, head of people, and a general counsel.
“And then we’ll be prepared to go and attack quite a significant market, which is the US. We’re planning on doing that in April to July next year,” Robinson added.
The startup is also launching new products, including a tool for people to draft business contracts without needing legal training and a contracts repository, so customers can search a database of their own contracts.
Software currently used by the Robin AI team to review and negotiate contracts will also be spun out into a service.
The raise comes hot on the heels of Robin AI’s participation in the SoftBank Emerge Program, which aims to promote diversity in tech by funding underrepresented founders.
“A big challenge for underrepresented founders is that they don’t have a network of multi-millionaire former CEOs that they can just ask questions of,” Robinson said. “Having Softbank deliver those people and those resources, it was invaluable.”
Check out the redacted pitch deck the startup used to raise its seed extension.
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