We speak to clients and investors about what this raise means to them, to Harvey, and the market
Legal generative AI original Harvey last week announced a long-rumoured $300m Series D, valuing the company at $3bn, with an annual recurring revenue in excess of $50m. These are eye watering numbers from a 2022-founded Silicon Valley startup that has simultaneously become a litmus test for legal GenAI adoption and the subject of deep speculation and column inches over whether its product is all just a bit smoke and mirrors. So how, if at all, do the events of last week change things?
For clients, while they may not need this raise to make them feel they made the right choice, it is inevitably a massive vote of confidence. Ashurst, for one, tells us that they have directly felt the benefit of Harvey’s previous raises in terms of product development and investment in people, and look forward to the same again.
For investors, these numbers and the pedigree of the VC teams behind them don’t lie. The round was led by Sequoia, a VC firm that counts Apple, Google, WhatsApp, Airbnb and Zoom among its top five investments. Does this mean that Harvey is guaranteed be the outright legal GenAI winner? It does not. Is Harvey popular with all law firms? It is not. But speaking to Legal IT Insider, Killer Whale
Strategies founder Zach Abramovitz said: “You cannot ignore the speed of adoption of this product. I haven’t audited the financials or spoken to anyone internally, but if they are reporting $50m ARR inside of two and a half years, that’s all you need to know.”
Client Reaction: Confidence is king
In December 2022, A&O Shearman (then just A&O) became the first law firm to implement Harvey at an enterprise level. While firms of this size and status want to be seen to be the first, they certainly don’t want to be the only one on the dance floor. Scroll forward a little over two years, and there’s zero fear of that. Harvey co-founder Winston Weinberg told American business magazine Fortune on 12 February, as this latest raise was announced, that Harvey is on track to surpass $100m ARR in about eight months, having expanded to 235 customers in 42 countries, including the majority of top 10 law firms. The new investment, he said, will enable Harvey to continue improving its platform, scaling agentic workflows, building out integrated enterprise use cases, and growing the team.
This fundraise means slightly different things to different clients, but the overriding sentiment is one
of validation and confidence. Christopher Tart-Roberts, head of lawtech and chief knowledge and innovation officer at Macfarlanes, which announced it was rolling out Harvey across the firm in September 2023, told Legal IT Insider: “From my perspective it continues to give me confidence that the product is developing and is going to continue to develop. It’s a vote of confidence for Harvey as a product, for the team they have built, and the approach that they have taken in investing not only in their technology but also first-class legal experience.”
At UK firm Stephenson Harwood, which announced in May last year that it plans to adopt Harvey across its offices worldwide, head of innovation Paul Orchard told us: “We’ve been working with Harvey for over a year. From a customer perspective, their latest fund raise is a great indicator of future investment in the product roadmap and customer support.”
Ashurst: A Mini Case Study
Ashurst rolled out Harvey firm-wide in June last year. Speaking to Legal IT Insider about the significance of the $300m raise, Ruth Ward, who is Ashurst’s head of knowledge, and Hilary Goodier, who is the global head of newlaw practice Ashurst Advanced, say it is validation of their decision, but that adoption figures speak for themselves.
Goodier points out that 95% of staff have unlocked access to Harvey and undertaken the training required to do so, with those who have used Harvey now reaching 70%. “We’re now moving from driving general adoption to focusing on high value use cases for us and our clients,” she said.
Commenting on the fundraise itself, Goodier told us: “It’s very positive and exciting for us to see this investment in Harvey. We’ve made a significant investment in Harvey and rolled it out across our global network, so this kind of fundraising and investment, from an incredibly strong investor group, and especially at Series D, gives me a lot of confidence in Harvey’s future.”
Goodier tells us that Harvey is good at translating investment into their product development and geographic footprint; opening in London as its European HQ last year. “As a client I’m excited because this is a long-term investment for us and we want a partner that is going to continue invest, so this gives me great confidence,” she said. 
Ward points out that Ashurst’s confidence in Harvey stems from the AI trials the firm conducted before making its investment, observing: “We didn’t ‘need’ the announcement but as Hilary said, what we’ve already seen with Harvey is that immediate translation of investment into the product, and services around the product.”
Ward says that one reason Harvey has been such a good match is that it is a multipurpose tool, commenting: “We wanted a tool that delivered broad and immediate business benefits, and the core Harvey product has done that. It’s helped us to gain experience and unlock further value. We’re moving from multipurpose uses cases to unlocking more specific use cases, which is precisely why we invested in Harvey.”
Ashurst had its Statement of the Relationship meeting a few weeks ago and Goodier says: “A bit part of those meetings is looking at the roadmap, and they have an ambitious roadmap.”
With regard to Harvey doubters, Goodier says: “This is incredibly complex and valuable technology and firms are not investing in a tool that is not driving value for them. There are also serious investors in the Series D and there is no way they are making that investment without being confident in Harvey’s future trajectory.”
The Investor Take
Investors who are involved in the sector are inclined to agree. Abramowitz, who is a former M&A attorney turned founder and investor, says there are plenty of important takeaways. On a micro level, going back to the $50m ARR figure, Abramowitz emphasises that for one, it blows away the suggestion that Harvey’s product is smoke and mirrors, commenting: “I don’t know how they’re getting to that number from an accounting perspective, but it doesn’t really matter. I’m not saying they are necessarily going to be the outright winner — I still think specialized products like Patlytics, LegalMation and Centari are also going to be players. But, you have to take your hat off to these first-time founders, who have grown their company to $3bn in two and a half years.”
He adds: “Harvey is a law firm practice AI product intended to be used by every lawyer in the firm. Now, is every single firm that uses Harvey having the same amount of success? No. But I can definitely tell you that there are lawyers who love it. Perhaps what is most important here is that lawyers don’t reject tech, they reject mediocre tech.”
To that point, for the legal sector, this fundraise perhaps signals something of a deeper legal market sea change.
Zach Posner, co-founder and managing director of The LegalTech Fund, said: “For the first time, we’re witnessing a level of investment in the legal sector that rivals more traditional tech spheres—generalist venture funds included. This development signals a meaningful shift: forward-thinking firms now view LLM-powered solutions as a key to transforming their business models.”
Harvey’s round indicates that investors expect big outcomes, including IPOs and large M&A events in the legal industry. However, echoing Abramowitz, Posner cautions: “We’re still in the very early innings—no clear winner has begun to emerge yet. Many organizations are merely experimenting with LLMs rather than fully implementing them, and Big Law faces numerous challenges before we’ll see broad, meaningful adoption.”
Despite this, there’s a palpable sense of opportunity in the market. This raise undoubtedly speaks to the speed of Harvey’s adoption and must surely go a long way to silencing its critics. Perhaps more significantly, it speaks to the wider possibilities. Posner says: “We’re seeing a range of companies drive real client engagement with different approaches to LLM technology, which suggests there’s still plenty of room for multiple innovators to thrive.”