Established in 2019 by Richard Robinson, a former lawyer at Clifford Chance, and James Clough, a machine learning researcher at Imperial College, Robin AI has been revolutionising legal processes. The company’s technology, which focuses on automating and accelerating contract drafting and negotiation, also facilitates information extraction from vast contract databases. Its Microsoft Word add-in legal assistant reduces contract review time by 85%, enabling legal teams to work more efficiently and strategically.

Central to Robin AI's approach is the emphasis on quality and accuracy. The company became a launch partner for Anthropic's Large Language Model (LLM), Claude, earlier this year, uniquely applying this technology to legal tasks. Claude 2.1, capable of processing prompts up to 150,000 words, is particularly advantageous for examining lengthy, complex legal documents. Anthropic is committed to developing AI models that are both safe and reliable.

Robin AI employs a distinctive hybrid model combining Claude LLM with its own proprietary data from over 2 million contracts and advanced machine learning techniques. The model is further refined by an in-house team of legal professionals, ensuring the highest quality and precision. In contrast to many legal AI products that are still in development or limited access stages, Robin AI offers a free version of its assistant for public use at www.robinai.com.

The company has rapidly gained traction, witnessing a fourfold increase in customers and a fivefold rise in revenue in the past year. It has been particularly successful in the private equity sector, where speed and complex obligation tracking are crucial. Robin AI's client roster includes notable names like Pepsico, PwC, Yum! Brands, AlbaCore Capital Group, and BlueEarth Capital.

CEO and co-founder Richard Robinson, now based in New York to facilitate the company's US expansion, shared his vision: “We’ve seen incredible customer traction with what we believe is the smartest AI contract copilot on the market. But this is just the beginning. We are building the AI platform for the legal sector - a service that deeply understands every aspect of the legal function, from drafting contracts, researching case law to explaining legal concepts - our AI will help people tackle every legal task. This will help level the playing field between big and small law firms and help more people access legal services. This investment will help us to realise this vision.”

Carina Namih, Partner at Plural, commented on the company's progress: “Everyone is wondering how AI lands usefully. Robin is delivering AI products to an astonishing volume and range of customers – serious businesses across sectors that are using it today to transform how they work. And they’ve only scratched the surface. I have backed this team since inception and couldn’t be more bullish about their ability to win the global legal market.”

QuantumLight's CEO, Ilya Kondrashov, expressed his confidence in the team: “Robin AI has built a great team and product and have developed an impressive record of acquiring major enterprise accounts in a short period of time. As an AI-driven VC firm, we immediately saw the potential of Robin AI’s system to drive tremendous efficiency in the field of legal services. We are extremely grateful for the opportunity to come along with Richard, James and the wider team at Robin AI on their exciting journey to realise the potential of AI and build one of the most significant companies in the AI applications space.”

Ivan Ong, Partner at AFG Partners, emphasised the company's market position: “Robin AI is addressing a central issue in the legal industry, and in a short time has positioned itself as a market leader in a space that has significant growth potential. As a global fund backed by investors from financial services, we believe that there should be a better way to manage the growing number of legal contracts between stakeholders. Robin AI is highly applicable across our network of investors and ecosystem partners and we look forward to scaling the company deeper into Asia and globally. We are pleased to join Temasek and other seasoned investors as we support Robin AI on its growth journey.”

The new funding will enable Robin AI to leverage its current market momentum. Plans include expanding its US team, where it already derives three-quarters of its revenue, and opening a new office in Singapore to penetrate the Asia Pacific market. The investment will also support the growth of its AI and machine learning expert team.

Robin AI recently enhanced its offerings with the launch of its contract copilot as a Microsoft Word add-in, streamlining integration into lawyers' workflows. The copilot can be customised with a client's negotiation playbook, enabling swift contract review, clause identification, and edit suggestions, while keeping lawyers in full control. It also offers a natural language search function for easy access to contract information.