Spain: How much and who is investing in legaltech?
by Irina Wakstein
When analysing the rise of legaltech on the continent, we automatically think of two regions that are at the forefront: Barcelona and London. The former is favoured by an international environment of innovation and the consolidation of disruptive providers, while the latter represents the main focus of legal innovation in the north of Europe.
Furthermore, according to a UK government analysis, 29% of companies adopting artificial intelligence solutions belong to the legal sector. Another factor that favours the development of the legaltech market at a national level is the high concentration of lawyers in the country, with 132,844 practising lawyers for a population of 47 million inhabitants. While in countries such as France, for example, there are 68,000 practising lawyers with a population of 65 million inhabitants, i.e. half as many.
It is also worth noting that Spain is positioned as a spearhead, not only for having more than 400 companies and startups operating in the field, but also for hosting the largest innovation events on the continent. Undoubtedly, the boom in the legaltech market is a phenomenon that transcends borders, generating strong impact and repercussions around the world.
So much so that, according to figures from the German consulting firm Statista, the sector has already generated more than 27 billion euros globally. Although there is currently no report available that analyses the exact investment received by legaltechs in Spain, different capital managers, business angels and financial institutions choose to invest in the development of this market on a daily basis. Such is the case of the business angel network, Esade Ban, where 20 small investors injected one million euros in the firm Signaturit, one of the spanish legaltechs that, according to the global platform specialised in finance, Finnovating, is the one that has received the most investment. Esade Ban has also invested in other legaltechs such as Blocktac, Pridatect, Unison and Kuorum, where the injection exceeds 2.7 million euros.
Another case to highlight is that of Cabiedes & Partners, a fund led by brothers José and Luis Martín Cabiedes, who have invested a total of 2.5 million euros in legaltechs such as Reclamador, ElDerecho, ElAbogado and LegalPigeon. Reclamador, a platform specialised in online claims, has also received an investment amounting to 72.000 euros from Indexa Capital.
Bonsai Partners is another of the leading funds in terms of investments in the legaltech world, having invested 1.5 million euros in Codeoscopic, a software tool used by independent brokers in Spain to generate policies. For its part, the private equity fund MCH has acquired 100% of the capital of Logalty, the legaltech company specialising in electronic certification, for a value of 70 million euros.
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