Legal tech company PowerLaw AI announced the completion of a nearly 60 million yuan Series A funding round, led by Source Code Capital.

源码资本·April 6, 2021·3·7

Using Technology to Make Legal Services Better and More Accessible

PowerLaw AI, an AI startup focused on the legal sector, announced it has raised nearly RMB 60 million in its Series A funding round. The round was led by Source Code Capital, with Matrix Partners China participating. Existing investors Huayu Chuangke, HSG, and Linear Capital all followed on. The proceeds will be used to recruit top talent, enhance product development and delivery capabilities, and drive continued growth.

As its English name suggests, PowerLaw AI has been mission-driven since its founding to "use technology to make legal services better and more accessible." The company's core team hails from Tsinghua University's computer science department, applying cutting-edge natural language processing (NLP) technology to the legal field — enabling algorithms to understand legal texts and deliver intelligent contract review, legal Q&A, knowledge management, and legal research products and services.

PowerLaw's flagship product, MeCheck, is an AI and legal knowledge-powered intelligent contract review system designed to help corporate legal teams and other departments with contract management needs conduct smart contract review and management. Solid technology, clear product positioning, and a user-friendly interface have earned PowerLaw strong praise from clients. The product has already been deployed at multiple leading internet companies, as well as large manufacturing and retail enterprises.

CEO Cunchao Tu noted that contracts are a critical vehicle for commercial activity, yet in contract review scenarios, legal professionals can devote only a small fraction of their energy to thinking through the underlying transaction structure and designing better terms and contract architecture. The bulk of their time goes to catching errors and omissions, or repeatedly checking whether contracts meet compliance requirements. The value of AI lies in freeing legal professionals from repetitive, tedious tasks so they can focus their energy on higher-value work where they can exercise more judgment and creativity.

Throughout its product development, PowerLaw AI has adhered to a path of deep integration between technology and law — over 30% of its employees have legal backgrounds. Legal professionals are deeply involved in technology and product development, providing knowledge and scenario support. An external legal expert team of more than forty members, including leading figures from academia, law firms, and industry, contributes practical experience and deep insights.

After more than a year of R&D, the company has established a complete pipeline from "knowledge graph → data annotation → algorithm implementation → product deployment." For specific contract types, PowerLaw uses professional data annotation and algorithm training to expose machines to hundreds or thousands of variations of each clause, enabling them to read and understand new contracts.

On the product design front, MeCheck adopts interaction patterns and output formats aligned with legal professionals' habits. The editing interface mirrors an online Word document editor. After users import a contract with one click, the system can review hundreds of risk points item by item within a minute, providing risk alerts, revision suggestions, and relevant legal provision recommendations. MeCheck also maintains version history for all contracts and offers contract comparison and performance monitoring services, supporting efficient contract circulation and digitization within enterprises.

Beyond its core product MeCheck, PowerLaw AI also offers MeBox, a product providing collaboration management and intelligent Q&A for law firms and lawyers, which is currently in deep service to a number of well-known domestic law firm clients.

Compared to other enterprise service sectors, legal intelligence remains in its early stages. However, commercial contracts represent a sufficiently large market, and abroad there are already unicorns like IronClad and Icertis.

Tu believes that legal AI is gradually transforming from a broad concept floating in the air into tangible, deployable applications. The emergence of AI specialists, along with entry by internet giants and capital, are all driving the legal tech industry's development. Since 2020, there has been a marked increase in client openness to new products.

Going forward, PowerLaw AI will focus on the enterprise contract scenario, delivering more intelligent products and services for legal professionals and enterprises.

Yungang Huang of Source Code Capital said: "Source Code has long paid attention to and been optimistic about legal tech. The application of AI technology in the legal industry will become increasingly deep, and in the long run will bring enormous industry transformation. The PowerLaw team has strong AI technical capabilities, deeply respects industry knowledge, and continuously hones its craft — able to build useful, user-friendly products and services starting from the details, and has already earned recognition from multiple leading enterprises. We look forward to the team continuously refining its product and expanding into more application scenarios, bringing more empowerment and advancement to the industry."