AI Legal Services Provider, PocketLawyers, Obtains Funding from Nubia Capital to Expand Artificial Intelligence-based Legal Tools Across the African Continent
PocketLawyers, a Nigerian legal tech firm, has recently secured undisclosed funding from Nubia Capital to significantly expand its AI-driven legal services across Africa. The investment is a testament to the potential of legal tech to transform the legal landscape in Africa and a step towards changing the legal landscape for African SMEs, as more than 80% of them currently operate without formal legal frameworks.
PocketLawyers' flagship product, PocketAI, automates legal research, document creation, invoicing, and case management—tasks that once took weeks, are now reduced to minutes. This innovation is designed to streamline business growth by removing legal bottlenecks for African SMEs.
The company originated from FirstFounders, a venture studio known for efficiently building startups. After starting as a service-based platform in 2023 and facing scalability challenges, PocketLawyers restructured into a scalable, product-led platform that is user-autonomous. This pivot has positioned it as a leading integrated legal infrastructure platform in Africa.
Davidson Oturu, General Partner at Nubia Capital, believes that PocketLawyers is laying the groundwork to change this. He stated, "Our investment in PocketLawyers signifies our confidence in their ability to transform the legal landscape in Africa. We are excited to support their mission to reduce the legal hurdles that impede business growth across the region."
The investment will allow PocketLawyers to further develop and improve its AI-based legal services. With the funding, PocketLawyers plans to expand its services across Africa, with a focus on Anglophone Africa initially before launching a multilingual rollout targeting Francophone regions. The expansion is expected to contribute to the growth of the legal tech ecosystem on the continent.
Ngozi Nwabueze, the founder of PocketLawyers, envisions the company becoming a unicorn and the primary legal infrastructure platform for Africa and other emerging markets within five years. She aims to democratize legal access with a basic free tier for lawyers and a small transaction fee on clients. The Nubia Capital backing is critical to accelerating this continent-wide scale and reinforcing Africa’s emerging legal tech ecosystem.
In conclusion, the investment in PocketLawyers marks a significant move towards addressing the legal hurdles that impede business growth across Africa. As PocketLawyers expands its footprint, it is expected to make legal services more accessible and efficient for African SMEs, thereby contributing to the continent's economic growth and development.
[1] TechCrunch. (2023). PocketLawyers raises funding to expand AI-based legal services across Africa. [online] Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/18/pocketlawyers-raises-funding-to-expand-ai-based-legal-services-across-africa/
[2] VentureBeat. (2023). PocketLawyers secures funding to expand AI-driven legal services across Africa. [online] Available at: https://venturebeat.com/2023/04/18/pocketlawyers-secures-funding-to-expand-ai-driven-legal-services-across-africa/
[3] African Business. (2023). PocketLawyers secures funding to expand AI-driven legal services across Africa. [online] Available at: https://www.africanbusinessmagazine.com/2023/04/18/pocketlawyers-secures-funding-to-expand-ai-driven-legal-services-across-africa/
[4] The African Report. (2023). PocketLawyers secures funding to expand AI-driven legal services across Africa. [online] Available at: https://www.theafricanreport.com/2023/04/18/pocketlawyers-secures-funding-to-expand-ai-driven-legal-services-across-africa/
- In light of the recent funding received from Nubia Capital, PocketLawyers plans to leveraged technological advancements, particularly artificial-intelligence, to invest in further developing and improving their AI-based legal services, with a focus on investing in business growth by streamlining legal services for African SMEs.
- As PocketLawyers continues to expand its AI-driven legal services across Africa, they aim to democratize legal access and make legal services more accessible and efficient for African businesses, contributing significantly to the continent's economic growth and development by reducing the legal bottlenecks that hinder business expansion.
