AI-Powered Legal Tech Startup Luminance Attracts $75M Investment

Generative AI is rapidly evolving in its ability to interpret complex texts, which has significantly benefited startups tackling one of the most intricate domains—legal documentation. Recent advancements in AI have fueled substantial growth in the legal tech sector, leading to a surge of investment in AI-powered legal solutions.

Luminance, a legal tech startup branding itself as “legal-grade” AI, has successfully secured $75 million in a Series C funding round led by Point72 Private Investments. This marks one of the largest funding rounds for a pure-play legal AI company in the U.K. and Europe. With this latest investment, Luminance has raised over $115 million in the past year and a total of $165 million to date.

The legal tech sector has seen increasing investment activity, with major funding rounds such as Eudia’s $105 million, London-based Genie AI’s €16 million, U.S.-based Harvey’s $300 million led by Sequoia, and Lawhive’s $40 million targeting ‘main street’ U.S. lawyers. Luminance’s funding adds to this momentum, highlighting the growing demand for AI-driven legal solutions.

Founded by Cambridge-based academics Adam Guthrie and Dr. Graham Sills, Luminance was initially seed-funded by the late Dr. Mike Lynch, founder of Autonomy, who tragically passed away last year. The startup leverages a proprietary AI system called “Panel of Judges” to automate and enhance contract management, including drafting, negotiation, and post-execution analysis. Its flagship product, Lumi Go, enables users to send draft agreements and utilize AI for automated negotiation.

Unlike traditional GPT-based models, Luminance employs a Legal Pre-trained Transformer (LPT), trained on over 150 million verified legal documents—many of which are not publicly accessible. This domain-specific approach, according to CEO Eleanor Lightbody, ensures accuracy and reliability, setting Luminance apart from competitors that rely on general-purpose LLMs. Lightbody emphasizes that their AI’s “mixed model approach” enhances accuracy by allowing models to validate each other’s outputs.

Luminance’s client base spans over 70 countries, serving more than 700 enterprises, including notable names like AMD, Hitachi, LG Chem, SiriusXM, Rolls-Royce, and Lamborghini. The company has significantly expanded its North American presence, tripling its headcount and opening new offices in San Francisco, Dallas, and Toronto while strengthening its U.S. headquarters in New York.

The Series C round saw additional participation from Forestay Capital, RPS Ventures, and Schroders Capital, alongside existing investors March Capital, National Grid Partners, and Slaughter and May. This funding positions Luminance to further scale its AI capabilities and continue transforming legal contract management globally.