Blacklaws: Market’s maturity is increasing
Investment in UK legal tech companies in the first six months of this year hit a record £227m, a 20% increase on the total for the whole of 2025.
LawtechUK said that if current investment levels continued in the second half of 2026, the market was on track to surpass £400m in funding.
At the same time, fewer companies secured investment compared to the first half of 2025, and investors remained focused on “technologies that improve existing legal workflows rather than replace them”.
The number of firms receiving investment fell from 27 to 17, while the average deal size increased from £4.3m to £13.4m.
Three companies – Orbital, Lawhive and Wordsmith AI – accounted for around £156m or 69% of all the new funding this year. The remaining 14 shared around £71m. Later-stage funding dominated, accounting for over £160m.
LawtechUK’s Investment Snapshot said: “For the first time, the UK lawtech ecosystem is displaying many of the hallmarks of a mature technology market: larger funding rounds, stronger follow-on investment, greater regional specialisation, and growing investor confidence in market leaders.”
Researchers said the market was “entering a new phase” of AI adoption.
“While generative AI has dominated industry headlines, investment patterns suggest investors remain focused on technologies that improve existing legal workflows rather than replace them.
“A clear distinction emerges between the technologies founders are building and the technologies investors are backing.”
Consumer-focused legal tech accounted for 28% of this year’s funding, up from 20% in 2025 and only 8% in 2024.
Meanwhile conveyancing and real estate grew from a relatively niche category that attracted £12m in 2024 to “a major investment destination”, securing over £60m so far this year.
“At the same time, knowledge platforms have nearly quadrupled funding levels, cementing their position among the ecosystem’s most attractive investment themes.”
The share of investment related to documents and contracts has fallen to less than half (47%) from 67% in 2024.
London remained the “centre of the UK lawtech ecosystem on every measure”, with 59% of the funding, but Scotland was a strong second with 23%, up from 2.7% in 2024, followed by the North-West with 17%. Wales, Northern Ireland and the other English regions shared the remaining 1%.
Female-founder funding increased from £7.6m in 2024 to £13.3m in 2025, but fell back to £3.8m in the first six months of this year.
“While female-founded companies continue to attract a relatively small share of total investment, founder representation data points to a more encouraging long-term trend.”
Christina Blacklaws, chair of LawtechUK, commented: “While investment levels continue to break records, what is particularly encouraging is the increasing maturity of the UK lawtech market.
“We are seeing larger funding rounds, stronger scale-ups, growing regional ecosystems and greater investor confidence in businesses solving real-world legal challenges.
“It is also encouraging to see innovation expanding beyond traditional legal service delivery, with growing interest in consumer-focused solutions and technologies that could improve access to justice.”
Justice minister Sarah Sackman added: “The government wants to build on this momentum. Through the LawtechUK programme, we will continue to support innovation, tech adoption and regional growth across the sector.”
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