Successful financing for Legal Tech JUPUS
Köln, 28.05.2024 - The startup JUPUS has been able to attract new investors for its AI secretariat for lawyers, which enables legally trained and fully automated communication and processing of legal matters for the first time: High Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) is taking the lead, alongside Combination VC consisting of business angels such as Refurbed founder Kilian Kaminski and Wandelbots CTO Georg Püschel. Existing investors are also on board again, including Foodpanda founder Felix Plog as well as lawyers and legal tech experts Philipp Hammerich (rightmart) and Stefan Schicker (SKW Schwarz) alongside well-known family offices. The EUR 1.3 million will enable the JUPUS team, which now has 15 members, to further expand its AI software. The tool is already being used by hundreds of lawyers across Germany.
JUPUS is the first legal AI secretariat in Europe to fully automate the client acceptance process, from the initial contact to the complete file. Lawyers are supported by an AI chatbot, an online appointment booking tool and an AI platform that automatically collects and processes inquiries, information and documents and enables automated communication with clients. “The legal sector is facing the biggest change in the last 120 years,” explains JUPUS founder René Fergen. “We are one of the main drivers for the practical use of AI and enable both legal industry players and those seeking legal advice to benefit from this technology.” Since the pre-seed in January 2023, the team has grown from 2 to 15 employees. Since May 2023, hundreds of law firms throughout Germany have been processing their inquiries via JUPUS, and the AI tool already handles more than 200 inquiries per day.
The financing raises a total of 1.3 million euros for the further expansion of JUPUS. The second financing round was quickly oversubscribed. “VCs have shown great interest in the development of legal tech and in our approach,” says Fergen. In addition to renowned business angels from the legal sector and successful players from the German start-up scene, JUPUS has now also attracted the attention of High-Tech Gründerfonds - Germany's most active and largest early-stage investor. “We are delighted to have gained a great new partner in HTGF,” says Fergen.
Law firms today are facing considerable problems in their operational business due to a shortage of specialists, while the complexity of client intake and case management is increasing. “The JUPUS team meets the challenge impressively with its versatile AI solution, especially in client management,” says Max Bergmann, Investment Manager at HTGF, explaining the decision. “JUPUS has managed to build up a significant customer base in a short space of time. As an investor, we believe that together we can create a leading company in an under-digitized market,” Bergmann continues.
The approximately 50,000 law firms in Germany are struggling with an enormous shortage of specialists and increased client expectations. “Time, personnel capacities and also lucrative mandates are being lost as a result,” explains Fergen. With JUPUS, law firms save 40 working hours per month and convert 2x more website visitors into inquiries. The pressure on the legal sector to digitize is increasing. A recent survey by the German Federal Bar Association shows: While the number of lawyers has almost tripled since 1990, the number of new trainee paralegals has fallen by 70% in the same period. “All those who do not yet have a staffing problem in the legal secretariat will have one in the next few years,” predicts Fergen. “But with JUPUS, we can mitigate this trend and provide lawyers with a powerful digital tool.”
About JUPUS
The Cologne-based company JUPUS is one of the leading providers of AI software for the legal sector in Germany and enables lawyers to fully automate the client acceptance process from initial contact to the complete file. Law firms are supported by an AI chatbot, an online appointment booking tool and an AI platform that automatically collects and processes inquiries, information and documents and enables automated communication with clients. The JUPUS team consists of 15 employees and since May 2023, hundreds of law firms throughout Germany have already been processing more than 200 inquiries per day via JUPUS. The company was founded in 2022 and is managed by the two founders René Fergen and Jannis Gebauer.
