‍How 25-Year-Old Max Junestrand Built a $675M Legal AI Startup: The Story of Legora

t just 25 years old, Max Junestrand has taken the legal tech world by storm as the co-founder and CEO of Legora, a Stockholm-based AI startup valued at $675 million.

In a recent Founder Firesides interview with Y Combinator, Junestrand shared the remarkable journey of building Legora, an AI-powered workspace transforming how lawyers work.

Here’s the story behind Legora’s meteoric rise and how Junestrand, with no formal legal background, created a game-changer in the legal industry.

The Spark: Spotting an Opportunity in Legal Tech

Legora’s origin story began in 2023, sparked by a blend of frustration and opportunity. Junestrand and his co-founders, Sigge Labor (CTO) and August Erséus (former CPO), observed the inefficiencies plaguing legal professionals.

A pivotal moment came when a lawyer friend spent an entire summer summarizing court cases for a major law firm—a task that screamed for automation. “We saw that GPT-3.5 was released to developers,”

Junestrand recalled Orders of $675 million in funding later, Legora is now used by over 250 law firms and legal teams across 20 countries, including prestigious names like Cleary Gottlieb, Goodwin, Bird & Bird, and Mannheimer Swartling.

From Vision to Reality: Building Legora

Legora, originally named Leya before its rebrand in February 2025, was founded to address the fragmented legal tech landscape. Junestrand noted that prior to advanced generative AI, legal tech consisted of “point solutions” for specific tasks like templating or research, which struggled with unstructured legal text.

The release of GPT-3.5 changed everything. “It just completely changed the game,” Junestrand said. The team initially built a simple stock option reader, but their focus quickly shifted to creating a comprehensive AI workspace for lawyers.

The platform, built on Microsoft Azure and leveraging large language models like GPT-4o, automates repetitive tasks such as document review, drafting, and legal research.

Legora’s key features include a web application with “tabular review”—a tool allowing lawyers to upload multiple documents and run queries across them, such as checking for intellectual property clauses in 100 employment agreements—and a Microsoft Word add-in that integrates AI directly into lawyers’ workflows.

This “Cursor for lawyers” approach enables tasks like contract redlining and playbook-based negotiations, slashing tasks that once took days or hours to mere minutes.

Overcoming Challenges: Trust and Compliance

Entering the conservative legal industry as young engineers was no small feat. “In law, trust is everything,” Junestrand emphasized. To gain credibility, Legora partnered with Mannheimer Swartling, Sweden’s largest law firm, which opened doors to other firms driven by FOMO.

Compliance was another hurdle. Legora built its system to meet stringent European data privacy standards, hosting all data within Europe, ensuring no retention or training use, and securing exemptions from human review.

This compliance, paired with Azure’s robust infrastructure, made Legora a trusted choice for law firms.

A defining moment came when Junestrand demonstrated Legora to Mannheimer Swartling’s managing partner, who was skeptical of AI’s value.

Using a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) system tied to Swedish legislation, Legora answered a legal research query perfectly, sparking an “aha moment” that shifted perceptions.

Rapid Growth and Funding Success

Legora’s growth has been explosive. From 15 employees a year ago to 100 across offices in Stockholm, London, and New York, the company now serves tens of thousands of lawyers daily.

Its client list includes top-tier firms, and its annual recurring revenue was reported at nearly $900,000 last March, with Junestrand describing growth as “extremely positive.”

The startup’s funding journey reflects its traction. After a $25 million Series A in 2024 led by Redpoint Ventures, Legora raised an $80 million Series B in May 2025, led by General Catalyst and Iconiq, bringing total funding to over $120 million and valuing the company at $675 million.

Despite not actively seeking funds, “the offers flooded in,” Junestrand told Business Insider, highlighting Legora’s strong product-market fit.

The Vision: Redefining Legal Work

Legora’s collaborative approach sets it apart. “We don’t know exactly where the future is going, but neither do you. So let’s work together,” Junestrand said, emphasizing co-creation with clients.

This philosophy has driven adoption, with firms like Goodwin praising Legora’s clean interface and tabular review feature, which allows searching thousands of files simultaneously.

Mary O’Carroll, Goodwin’s COO, noted, “We feel like we’re not just adopting the technology, we’re co-creating with them.”

Looking ahead, Junestrand envisions lawyers shifting from doing repetitive work to reviewing AI outputs and managing client expectations. “You’re managing the work from your AI agents,” he said, predicting AI will handle the least complex legal tasks, freeing lawyers for strategic advisory work.

This shift empowers junior lawyers to engage in higher-order tasks earlier and allows firms to scale efficiently.

Lessons from the Journey

Junestrand shared key insights from Legora’s hyper-growth:

• Be Coachable and Transparent: As a first-time founder, Junestrand embraced openness in sales, building trust and encouraging clients to join Legora’s journey.
• Leverage Partnerships: Partnering with a prestigious firm like Mannheimer Swartling lent credibility.
• Communicate a Big Vision: Legora’s mission to equip lawyers with trustworthy AI, akin to “Figma for designers,” inspires loyalty.

Challenging the Giants

Legora competes with heavyweights like Harvey, which has raised over $500 million, and legacy providers like LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters. Junestrand believes AI’s rapid evolution gives agile startups like Legora an edge over data-rich but slower incumbents. “We’re not here to be some European No. 2,” he declared, signaling Legora’s ambition to lead globally.

Max Junestrand’s journey from a tech-savvy 25-year-old to the CEO of a $675 million legal AI startup is a testament to vision, timing, and execution.

By seizing the opportunity presented by generative AI, building a compliant and collaborative platform, and fostering trust in a skeptical industry, Junestrand and his team have positioned Legora as a transformative force in legal tech. As AI continues to evolve, Legora’s story is just beginning, with its sights set on redefining how legal work is done worldwide.

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