Legal services provider PocketLawyers receives funding from Nubia Capital for expanding AI-powered legal tools throughout Africa.
PocketLawyers, a Nigerian startup originating from FirstFounders, has secured undisclosed funding from Nubia Capital. This investment is set to propel the AI-driven legal services provider across Africa, with plans to expand into at least 10 countries by the end of 2025.
Founded by lawyer Ngozi Nwabueze, PocketLawyers aims to transform the legal landscape for African Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), most of which operate without formal legal frameworks. The company's core offering, PocketAI, streamlines legal research, document creation, invoicing, and case tracking, reducing processes that once took weeks down to minutes.
The expansion is part of a strategic vision to position PocketLawyers as the leading legal infrastructure platform not only in Africa but also in other emerging markets worldwide. The platform is designed to empower both solo legal practitioners and clients with no-code tools for practice management, compliance, and growth. PocketLawyers employs a marketplace model where lawyers access basic tools for free, and clients pay a small transaction fee, while more advanced features will eventually be subscription-based.
Davidson Oturu, General Partner at Nubia Capital, believes that PocketLawyers is laying the groundwork to change the status quo. "More than 80% of African SMEs operate without formal legal frameworks, and PocketLawyers is setting out to change this," Oturu said. He added that the investment will enable PocketLawyers to expand its presence across the continent and strengthen the emerging legal tech ecosystem.
As part of its grassroots growth strategy, PocketLawyers is onboarding 1,000 newly qualified lawyers. The firm's East African operations are being led by Kenyan lawyer Yvonne Abungu, with plans to appoint more regional representatives.
The investment from Nubia Capital follows the model of Twitter (now X), demonstrating confidence in PocketLawyers' potential to revolutionize the legal sector and reduce the legal hurdles that hinder business growth in Africa. The funding will be used to expand PocketLawyers' AI-based legal services beyond its current reach, initially focusing on Anglophone markets before launching a multilingual rollout targeting Francophone regions.
The investment aims to boost the overall legal tech ecosystem across the continent that has traditionally lagged behind other sectors like fintech and health tech in terms of investment. With PocketLawyers' expansion, the legal sector in Africa is poised for a significant shift, offering SMEs a more accessible and efficient way to navigate the complexities of the legal world.
The investment from Nubia Capital will support PocketLawyers in leveraging artificial-intelligence technology to expand their AI-driven legal services, not only across Africa but also in other emerging markets. This strategic move is aimed at revolutionizing the finance sector by providing an accessible and efficient legal infrastructure for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that are primarily investing in growth without formal legal frameworks.
With the funding, PocketLawyers plans to integrate advanced features into their platform, positioning themselves as a significant player in the business landscape, not just in Africa, but globally, by leveraging technology, particularly artificial-intelligence, to streamline legal processes.
