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San Francisco-based generative artificial intelligence (AI) scaleup Harvey<\/a> is opening a new hub in Toronto this October to support both its growth in Canada and broader product development plans.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are several strong players in the legaltech space in Canada, and I think that\u2019s a reflection of the tremendous opportunity here.\u201d<\/p>\n Siva Gurumurthy, Harvey<\/p>\n The fast-growing legal software provider, which was most recently valued at $5 billion USD, intends to hire for more than 20 engineering, sales, and customer success roles in the city by early next year as it looks to bring its AI technology to more law firms across Canada.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company said it selected Toronto for its strong engineering talent pool, academic institutions, and AI community as it kicks off \u201ca long-term investment in the Canadian market.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCanada is not just a market for Harvey, it\u2019s a place we\u2019re thrilled to be building in,\u201d Harvey co-founder and CEO Winston Weinberg said in a statement.<\/p>\n Harvey was founded in 2022 by Weinberg, a former securities and antitrust litigator at O\u2019Melveny & Myers, and ex-Google DeepMind researcher Gabriel Pereya (Harvey\u2019s president). Harvey sells domain-specific AI tools to law firms and professional service providers. The company was named after Harvey Specter, the lead character in television legal drama Suits, which was largely filmed in Toronto.<\/p>\n Harvey helps lawyers complete and automate complex, recurring legal tasks using advanced large-language models. With its software and in-house legal expertise, the company claims it can streamline contract analysis, due diligence, compliance, and litigation processes. It also says its tech can help firms securely collaborate on projects and derive insights from both proprietary and public legal sources.<\/p>\n While its primary focus is on the legal space, the AI company has been expanding into professional services adjacent to the legal field, including by co-developing<\/a> a mergers and acquisitions platform with PwC.<\/p>\n Harvey, which already counts major Canadian law firms like Davies and Gowling WLG among its customers, said the Toronto hub will help it collaborate more closely with Canadian clients. But Harvey also sees Canada as more than just a market to sell into. In a statement, CTO Siva Gurumurthy said Toronto would become \u201ca core development engine.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED: Blue J raises $167.4-million CAD Series D after AI tax research platform more than doubles its revenue<\/a><\/p>\n Canada has 35,000 law firms, including some existing Harvey customers, and \u201ca robust list of exceptional companies who could benefit from using Harvey in-house,\u201d Gurumurthy told BetaKit. \u201cOn a personal note, I\u2019ve had great experiences with technical talent in the Canadian market, so I\u2019m very optimistic about what we can build here.\u201d<\/p>\n Gurumurthy said Toronto is \u201ccritical\u201d to Harvey\u2019s global growth strategy and the first office outside the United States where it is hiring engineering talent. Harvey has brought on Gary Lam as its site leader in Canada.<\/p>\n Harvey\u2019s Canadian expansion appears to put the firm in competition with AI-focused Canadian legal software upstarts like Clio (which recently announced a $1-billion USD<\/a> acquisition), Blue J (which just raised a $122-million USD<\/a> Series D), and Spellbook<\/a>, as well as more established firms, like Thomson Reuters<\/a> and Dye & Durham<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are several strong players in the legaltech space in Canada, and I think that\u2019s a reflection of the tremendous opportunity here,\u201d Gurumurthy said.<\/p>\n The CTO argued that Harvey\u2019s commitment to security and customization, product development speed, relationships with top model providers, and focus on AI quality optimized by legal domain experts differentiate the company from other options in the Canadian market.<\/p>\n RELATED: Clio to acquire Spanish-American legaltech vLex for $1 billion USD<\/a><\/p>\n Legaltech has been booming recently. According to Crunchbase News<\/a>, funding for legaltech startups in recent quarters has surged to levels comparable to the 2021 market peak thanks to an AI boost some believe is primed<\/a> to disrupt the industry. But, as Business Insider has reported<\/a>, fear of a potential bubble is also surfacing amid questions as to how much of this revenue is lasting versus temporary given the spate of law firms paying to try several products before deciding which to keep or cut.<\/p>\n Harvey has benefited from rising investor interest in the legaltech space. The company\u2019s move into Canada comes on the heels of its second major financing round this year. In June, Harvey closed a $300-million USD<\/a> Series E at a $5-billion valuation to fuel its global expansion and grow its technical team, just four months after raising a Series D<\/a> of the same size that valued the company at $3 billion.<\/p>\n To date, Harvey has raised a total of $800 million USD from a list of backers that includes Kleiner Perkins, Coatue, Sequoia, GV, DST Global, Conviction, Elad Gil, the Open AI Startup Fund, Elemental, SV Angel, Kris Fredrickson, and REV (the venture capital arm of RELX Group, which owns LexisNexis).<\/p>\n According to some metrics<\/a> the three-year-old company shared earlier this month, Harvey currently has 350 employees, serves more than 500 clients across 54 countries, and recently surpassed $100 million USD in annual recurring revenue.<\/p>\n Harvey opened an office in London, United Kingdom last fall. In addition to Toronto, this year the scaleup plans to open hubs in Sydney, Australia and Bengaluru, India, and build a team in Germany.<\/p>\n Feature image courtesy Unsplash<\/a>. Photo by Sandro Schuh<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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