In September last year, New York-founded AI-powered justice intelligence startup Darrow raised $35m Series B, a little more than three years after it was founded. We hear who the founders are; what the company is and does; what its recent history and strategy is; and what its pivots and achievements are to date.
How would you describe your company to a friend?
Founded in 2020, Darrow is an AI-powered LegalTech company on a mission to fuel law firm growth and deliver justice for victims of class and mass action lawsuits. Darrow’s Justice Intelligence Platform leverages generative AI and world-class legal experts and technologists to uncover egregious violations across legal domains spanning privacy and data breach, consumer protection, securities and financial fraud, environment, and employment.
And if you had to describe it to a techy?
Legal professionals attempting to anticipate and assess potential litigation often find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume and intricacy of data, frequently missing potential meritorious cases. Darrow’s Justice Intelligence Platform is a cutting-edge AI-driven solution that combines the prowess of large language models and attention mechanisms for groundbreaking legal data analysis. Through streamlining alerting, assessment, and documentation with distinctive hybrid data analysis and smart case prioritization, Justice Intelligence facilitates proactive case identification for legal professionals. By integrating this approach, legal professionals stand to gain significant operational efficiency and an augmented value proposition, ultimately charting a path for a new era in litigation.
When were you founded?
Darrow was founded in 2020.
By who?
Darrow was founded by Evyatar Ben Artzi, Gila Hayat, and Elad Spiegelman.
Who are your key managers/senior execs?
Co-founders Evyatar Ben Artzi and Gila Hayat serve as Darrow’s CEO and CTO, respectively. Other key senior executives include: Erez Cohn Kaiser (CFO); Shay Antebi (CPO); Dan Ben Zvi (VP Revenue); Amit Weiss (VP Intelligence); Reut Meirson (VP People); and Tamar Sacerdoti (VP Operations).
What is your growth strategy?
Darrow is focused on growth – both for our clients and ourselves. As we continue to evolve, we’re excited to explore new legal domains and leverage generative AI to build innovative new products and offerings that help plaintiff’s attorneys grow their firms.
Have you received investment?
Just last year, Darrow completed a $35 million Series B funding round, enabling the company to recruit top talent in research and development, break into new legal domains, and scale our large language models designed to detect egregious legal violations. As of January, Darrow has raised $60M in funding from top VCs, including: Georgian, F2, NFX, Entree, and YCombinator.
What are your key achievements to date?
We are proud to have partnered with over 50 leading law firms in the U.S. to date, with active litigation totaling more than $10 billion in damages for victims. Additionally, a key achievement has been the recent launch of PlaintiffLink – a centralized portal that allows law firms to quickly connect with vetted, high-quality plaintiffs faster than ever before.
Who are your target clients?
Darrow’s target clients are plaintiff’s attorneys – public interest lawyers who represent victims of egregious legal violations.
Have there been any key changes in direction since you were founded?
Though Darrow is entering only its fourth year, we are constantly evolving to best serve our customers. A key area of change was the recent launch of PlaintiffLink. Now, in addition to our offering that helps law firms find high-impact cases, law firms can now use Darrow’s platform to connect with potential plaintiffs and manage their campaigns.
What are the key challenges you face in your market?
While many law firms have started to integrate technology, innovation and AI into their practice, there is still a sizable majority of attorneys who resist new ways of doing business. That said, the “mainstreamification” of AI in early 2023 has brought with it a clear reckoning, with many firms racing to integrate cutting-edge tools and products into their business.
What are the most exciting developments you’ve seen in your market in the past year for the past year to 18 months?
In the last 18 months, the biggest turning point in the industry was undoubtedly the rise of generative AI, led by OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022 and GPT-4 in early 2023. But a technology that can surpass the top 10% of bar exam test-takers has many other important implications for the legal industry.. At Darrow, we’re excited to watch more law firms incorporate AI to not replace lawyers, but help fuel law firm growth. Integration of AI tools and technologies has gone from a nice-to-have to a need-to-have over the course of a year.
Tell us something that people don’t already know about the company?
Darrow is a mission-driven, impact-focused company that is doing well by doing good. We are not just a LegalTech company that is looking to increase efficiencies or save lawyers’ time on the “unbillable hour” (although we do that very well); rather, we are building toward a frictionless justice system, where people trust that every legal violation can be swiftly discovered, precisely valued, and efficiently resolved.