A British legal AI firm has secured $75m in funding after receiving the backing of a hedge fund run by American billionaire Steve Cohen.
Cambridge-based Luminance, which was founded in 2015, completed the oversubscribed series C round led by Cohen’s Point72 with participation from Forestay Capital, RPS Ventures and Schroders Capital, as well as existing investors including March Capital, National Grid Partners and Slaughter and May.
CEO Eleanor Lightbody said the funding would accelerate the company’s US growth, responsible for 40% of revenues, and will fuel key hires and new offices across the US, APAC and Europe.
“It also accelerates innovation at our Cambridge R&D hub as we expand Luminance’s AI platform to legal adjacent use cases in procurement and compliance,” she said.
In its most recent annual report, the company, which is headquartered in the British Virgin Islands, posted revenues of £9.4m, a 60% year-on-year rise, while losses narrowed slightly to £8.3m.
Luminance, which last reported having 150 employees, said it grew headcount by 80% in 2024 to meet rising demand, most notably in North America where headcount tripled with the opening of three brand-new offices in San Francisco, Dallas and Toronto, and the company expanded its US HQ in New York.
Developed by AI experts from the University of Cambridge, Luminance uses specialist AI – known as the “Panel of Judges” – to automate and augment every touchpoint a business has with its contracts, from generation to negotiation and post-execution analysis.
The company works with over 700 organisations in 70+ countries across all verticals and has a roster of blue-chip clients such as AMD, Hitachi, LG Chem, SiriusXM, Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini.
Founded in 2014, Point72 was established by Steve Cohen, owner of the New York Mets, who has a net worth of $21bn according to Forbes.
Listen: The possibilities and perils of legal sector AI adoption – Eleanor Lightbody, CEO, Luminance