British legaltech startup Luminance raises $75M for contract AI assistant

London-based legal artificial intelligence startup Luminance Technologies Ltd. today announced it raised $75 million in a Series C funding round led by Point72 Investments.

The funding for Luminance comes amid a flurry of investments directed at AI legaltech startups and businesses. New investors Forestay Capital, RPS Ventures and Schroders Capital participated in the round, as well as existing investors including March Capital, National Grid Partners and Slaughter and May. This round brings the total amount raised by the company to over $115 in the past 12 months.

Founded in 2015, the startup was developed by AI experts from the University of Cambridge and uses specialized legal AI models that the company calls the “Panel of Judges.” It automates contract preparation and negotiation using analysis using a chatbot that assists with overview, diligence, discovery and drafting.

The company said that its AI models have been exposed to “over 150 million legally verified documents” from diverse fields of law and is finetuned by experts, tagged and validated by leading law firms. This has created a specialized AI specifically capable for handling the language of law.

Luminance boasts work with over 700 organizations across 70 countries, including clients such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Hitachi Ltd., LG Chem Ltd., SiriuXM Holdings Inc., Ross-Royce and Lamborghini.

The company recently launched it’s flagship product “Lumi Go,” which allows two parties to negotiate contracts through the service via it’s AI-powered chatbot functionality, Ask Lumi. Using Lumi Go, when it comes time to get a signature or review on a contract, a recipient will receive a “lite” version of Luminance within Microsoft Word.

This AI-assistant will provide real-time feedback to the contract signer if the proposed changes will be accepted by the Luminance customer or not. The Luminance AI can even go a step further and assist with drafting suggested alternative language that has a higher change of approval, which the AI can insert into the draft with a click.

“Lumi Go represents more than just a boost in productivity for routine contract negotiations; it offers a glimpse into the future of legal practice as AI continues to become more pervasive,” said Eleanor Lightbody, chief executive of Luminance.

This year alone, legal AI startups have received continued attention from investors as the industry lights up. In-house corporate legal AI startup Eudia raised $105 million this week, contract lifecycle management AI platform SpotDraft raised $54 million earlier this month and AI startup for plaintiff law firms Eve raised $47 million in January.

Luminance claims the demand for legal AI has grown dramatically. In the past two years the company says it has seen customer base grow by five times. To meet this increasing need, Luminance grew its headcount by 80% to 250 in 2024 and expanded its footprint, most notably in North America, with the opening of three offices in San Francisco, Dallas and Toronto.

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