Nvidia has taken another step in its AI venture. NVentures, the corporate VC arm, has invested in Legora, marking what is believed to be its inaugural investment in legal AI.

Utilizing AI to assist lawyers in optimizing their workflows, the legal tech startup from Sweden is in competition with the U.S. entity Harvey.

Alongside Atlassian and other new financial backers, NVentures became a participant in Legora’s capitalization structure as part of a $50 million Series D extension, which follows the startup’s previous $550 million Series D raise by a month. 

During this time, this Y Combinator graduate has surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) — a significant achievement contributing to its updated $5.6 billion post-money valuation. 

This positions Legora’s valuation a bit closer to Harvey’s, which attained $11 billion last month when Sequoia significantly increased its stake. That round also included contributions from Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, Conviction Partners, Elad Gil, Matt Miller’s Evantic, and Kleiner Perkins.

Legora is supported by prominent venture capitalists, but it places even more importance on the notable clients it has acquired, such as Bird & Bird, Cleary Gottlieb, and Linklaters. The company asserts that the platform it introduced only 18 months ago is now utilized by over 1,000 law firms and in-house legal departments across 50 markets.

Harvey also has a presence in this domain. It claims to serve 100,000 lawyers throughout 1,300 organizations, including major law firms like Hengeler Mueller and Latham & Watkins as well as corporate legal teams at companies like T-Mobile and Bridgewater.

With global dominance as the ultimate objective, the competition between Harvey and Legora is set to unfold in each other’s primary markets. Legora has established several offices worldwide, concentrating on the U.S. for its growth. In contrast, Harvey is expanding into Europe.

With ample capital available on both sides, the contention has shifted to brand visibility. Shortly after Winston Weinberg’s firm Harvey formed a marketing partnership with actor Gabriel Macht, known for his role as a powerful lawyer in the series “Suits,” Legora unveiled an advertising initiative featuring movie star Jude Law with the tagline “Law just got more attractive.”

Both firms may be justified in their heavy investment in marketing. Despite the rivalry, they are built atop substantial language models developed by AI giants that may eventually pose a challenge. Recently, when Anthropic released a legal plugin for Claude, several publicly traded legal software companies experienced a drop in stock prices.

Legora CEO Max Junestrand expresses no worries.

“Foundation models are advancing rapidly, but the true value lies in their application,” he stated in a press release. It also indicates how the startup incites FOMO among prospective users, implying that “the legal teams that effectively integrate AI today will dictate the industry’s evolution.”

NVentures’ investment is also a testament to Legora’s potential protective moat against model creators and its larger competitor.

Nevertheless, Nvidia is also recognized for its cautious approach — having invested in both Anthropic and OpenAI before determining it might have enough exposure.