Manifest Secures $60M Series A to Transform Legal Services with AI-Powered Platform

AI Legal Startup Manifest Raises Funds at $750 Million Valuation

Manifest OS is recruiting lawyers to join its network, targeting those at small or solo practices, and intends to expand from immigration law to other practice areas, starting with tax law. Manifest OS, a startup selling AI software to lawyers, has sealed a $60 million Series A funding round valuing it at $750 million. Investors in the round include Menlo Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, First Round Capital and Quiet Capital, according to a statement reviewed by Bloomberg News. Manifest OS was founded by Dan Mishin, an entrepreneur who said he spent tens of thousands of dollars on the legal paperwork to become a US citizen. He said his company's mission is to "end the billable hour" to make legal services accessible to all. "To truly shift the market to outcomes-based pricing and to democratize access to high-quality legal services for clients, we needed to rethink the entire business model of a law firm from the ground up," Mishin said in the statement. Manifest OS is recruiting lawyers to join its network of attorneys, giving them access to software intended to boost their revenue by leveraging artificial intelligence. The more than 100 lawyers using Manifest OS software operate under the brand Manifest Law, according to the statement. "On average, a lawyer that joins doubles their income compared to their previous job," Mishin said in an interview. Manifest OS targets lawyers at small or solo practices, where an American Bar Association industry survey found attorneys spend up to two-thirds of their time on non-legal work. "The insight behind Manifest is really let's solve that problem -- the problem of where they spend their time -- and enable lawyers to be the best versions of themselves to actually focus just on legal work," Mishin said. The company is starting with immigration law but intends to expand to other practice areas, Mishin said, with tax law up next. Year-end profits are invested in research and development, he said. Mishin is one of a group of startup founders seeking to disrupt the business model of law firms, believing AI-delivered efficiency presents an opportunity to charge for outcomes rather than hours billed. Those companies are using AI to take first passes at drafting legal documents before handing them off to attorneys. Norm Law LLP launched in November and specializes in financial services work. It's being built in collaboration with Blackstone Inc.'s in-house legal team. The "AI-native law firm" Crosby last month raised a $60 million Series B round led by Lux Capital and Index Ventures that it said would allow it to build more technology. Crosby also has backing from Sequoia and Bain Capital Ventures. "Just as Uber created more supply by increasing the number of drivers on the road, Manifest uses AI to dramatically increase the throughput and productivity of existing lawyers," Menlo Ventures partner Croom Beatty said in a statement. "The total market here is massive -- the 80th biggest law firm does roughly $800 million in revenue, and even the 200th biggest pulls in close to $30 million a year."

Manifest Raises $60 Million in Record Legal AI Funding Round | PYMNTS.com

The startup's new round -- which it said is the largest Series A ever for a legal tech company -- values Manifest at $750 million, the company announced in a news release Tuesday (April 28). "To truly shift the market to outcomes-based pricing and to democratize access to high-quality legal services for clients, we needed to rethink the entire business model of a law firm from the ground up," Dan Mishin, Manifest's founder and CEO. "We made the hard choice to not sell our AI software to existing law firms who are often beholden to billing customers more hours as a means to better compensation," Mishin added. "Instead, we partner with forward-thinking lawyers to help them become market leaders in their respective practice areas, with AI at their core from day zero." Manifest said its platform serves as a "single end-to-end solution" for client communications, attorney and client collaboration, research, document drafting, reporting and billing. "Human-supervised" AI agents are woven into legal workflows, doing away with non-legal administrative work and giving attorneys more time to focus on clients. The company also provides a "centralized operational infrastructure," recruiting paralegals, admins and legal writers, and training them to become proficient in AI while dealing with things like client intake, business development, quality assurance, billing and collections. Firms working with Manifest operate "under the unified Manifest Law brand, creating a consistent standard" for pricing, service and client experience, the release added. Other companies raising funds in this space include Legora, which was valued at $5.6 billion last month after raising $550 million in a Series D funding round. Also in March, Harvey raised $200 million in new funding -- at an $11 billion valuation -- for its legal infrastructure for law firms and in-house teams. The company's products streamline workflows in contract analysis, due diligence, compliance and litigation. PYMNTS wrote last year about the way AI has made inroads into the legal world, becoming embedded infrastructure in these law firms as it carried out tasks in research, contracting, compliance and billing. "Legal AI is moving from experimentation to embedded infrastructure, reshaping how services are priced and delivered," that report said, while adding that not every offering would have staying power. "The winners will be those who become indispensable to how the profession actually works."