An Edinburgh tech firm bringing artificial intelligence to the legal profession has secured $25 million in a series A funding round.
WordSmith AI’s technology allows in-house lawyers to maximise their productivity by deploying ‘fleets’ of AI engineers to analyse complex legal documents and contracts.
The firm, co-founded by former lawyer and Skyscanner executive Ross McNairn, has gone through a rapid period of growth and has claimed to be fastest-ever Scottish startup to reach a valuation of over $100 million.
Led by Index Ventures, the investment will allow the company to scale its AI infrastructure that deploys legal agents across organisations to guide them to outcomes faster.
With AI transforming the legal profession and giving rise to entirely new roles – like the ‘legal engineer’ – Wordsmith is leading the charge, embedding fleets of AI agents into corporations and training teams to wield them.
Ross McNairn, CEO and co-founder of Wordsmith, says: “For the first time, AI infrastructure can be embedded across companies, with fleets of agents that you can train to support every corporate function – cutting deal cycles, answering queries, and processing complex workflows. Our legal enablement platform is like air traffic control for GCs [general counsels] and in-house teams, helping them guide teams to the right decisions faster.”
With a customer base that includes Trustpilot, Remote.com, Deliveroo, Multiverse, Docplanner, and hundreds of other in-house teams, Wordsmith is recording strong revenue growth across the UK and US, with the company set to open offices in both London and New York later this year.
McNairn adds: “We are helping GCs embed their legal intelligence across the business. Gone are the days of legal being seen as a blocker, it is now a revenue accelerator.”
Wordsmith’s technology is also helping to shape a new generation of legal professionals. As AI agents become embedded across corporate functions, the company is seeing the emergence of a new role within legal departments: the ‘legal engineer’.
Traditionally handled by legal operations managers, this evolving function focuses on training, deploying, and supporting AI agents, requiring an entirely new skill set.
To support this shift, Wordsmith invests significantly in training and up-skilling legal professionals, enabling them to harness the full potential of its platform. This marks a broader generational shift in the legal labour market, as professionals adapt to leverage AI and take on more strategic, high-impact roles.
The company has also benefited from the Scottish Government’s flagship Techscaler programme, to help tech startups grow to scale.
Deputy first minister Kate Forbes said: “Private investment is an essential building block of a strong and growing economy – and fundamental to ensuring businesses can grow and succeed. Scottish companies bucked the UK trend last year by attracting more than £700 million of investment – up by a fifth on 2023 – and it is fantastic news that Wordsmith AI, a Techscaler member, has secured its $25 million Series A funding round in such a short space of time.
“There can, must and will be many more success stories like this. From the Techscaler programme and our wider pipeline of support for entrepreneurs, to continuing to position Scotland as an investment destination, the Scottish Government will continue to help our start-up companies grow and prosper.”