AI is hot. Legal AI is hot. And EvenUp just raised a $50.5M Series B at a $325M post-money valuation. 

They say hindsight is 20/20. 

When we first met Rami, Raymond & Saam three years ago, “it” was a little less obvious. It was July 2020, everyone was both in a Covid lockdown & a funding winter, generative AI was not yet consensus (or really even a phrase), and personal injury law + AI seemed like a strange and admittedly unsexy fit…at first. 

But then it clicked. Raymond’s personal drive to make the industry better was a clear “why”, Saam’s legal background was a clear “what,” and Rami’s understanding of data and AI showed the clear “how” EvenUp would be different. They were the perfect team to change the personal injury space for the better. 

Fast forward 3 years and EvenUp is well on its way of closing the justice gap using technology and AI.

Here’s a bit more on what we saw then, and why EvenUp was my first investment at NFX, as well as what Bessemer and Bain Capital Ventures see now, and why we’re doubling down. 

1. Strong Network Effects Driven by a Massive Head Start 

One of the biggest advantages AI startups can have is proprietary data. While anyone can ask ChatGPT to draft legal demands, without differentiated data, they won’t get anything better than the next person. 

EvenUp was founded in 2019 to help law firms use software to predict how much personal injury lawsuits are worth. Since then, they’ve expanded their platform to use AI to generate legal documents for personal injury cases, including motor vehicle accidents, police brutality, child abuse and natural disasters.

During the process, they’ve plugged into 300+ law firms, helped collect $500M in damages, and are now drafting more than 1,000 demands per month. 

This process drives a network effect where each new case they work on creates more data to better draft demands and estimate the value of a case. 

This has created a self-reinforcing cycle giving EvenUp a much stronger position than the many legal AI startups that are just now launching. 

2. A Broken Niche With a $200B Opportunity

In the personal injury field alone, there are an estimated 50,000+ firms helping victims receive $200B+ in settlements each year. 

Despite this giant market, personal injury law is still an incredibly broken and inefficient industry. This can primarily be attributed to the fact that 99% of settlements are private, making it almost impossible for victims and law firms to know the true value of each case. Also, the average case length is more than a year, pressuring victims who may need the cash sooner to settle for a lower amount. 

EvenUp solves both these problems by leveraging their data and algorithms to give victims and their lawyers a better idea of what their case is worth, and speeding up the process with AI-generated demands. 

3. Their “AI Inside” Model Focuses on Time & Cost Savings

EvenUp understands that the AI is not the selling point. The customers don’t care that you’re using AI. You’re not selling the AI to them. You’re simply selling something better than other offerings. 

In EvenUp’s case, they’re selling a faster, cheaper, higher quality process – at the core of which is the demand letter.

A comprehensive demand outlines the defendant’s liability, the victim’s injuries, current and future expenses, and makes the initial demand for compensation. These letters are very formulaic, but require days of research by lawyers. But drafting a good one has outsized effects: if all goes well, a lawsuit may never be filed and the victim gets their payout. 

Even Up takes at least five hours off of the demand letter writing process. That results in a reduction of costs by about 50 percent in terms of wasted hours. And that in turn results in immediate time savings for personal injury law firms, and better outcomes for victims. 

EvenUp’s AI-based approach allows them to make a quantum leap forward from outdated, costly workflows into a new era where they can do (a lot) more with (a lot) less.

4. Founder-Market Fit

Last and certainly not least, we backed EvenUp because of their founding team who together understand the business, legal, and human sides of building a company like this. 

EvenUp co-founder and COO Ray Mieszaniec experienced the problems of the industry first hand; his father was involved in a serious motor-vehicle accident. Due to financial constraints on their family and an attorney that didn’t know their case’s value, they settled too early for a fraction of what was fair. 

This personal experience is often a sign of Founder-Market Fit – in this case it helped guide and shape EvenUp’s mission of closing the justice gap using technology and AI, and helping personal injury lawyers and victims to get the justice they deserve.

EvenUp Founders: Ray Mieszaniec, Rami Karabibar, and Saam Mashhad

Ray is joined by CEO Rami Karabibar who brings a background of startup and VC operations from Bain and Waymo. Saam Mashhad, Chief of Product & Legal Operations, has worked at several law firms and nonprofits bringing a deep understanding of the personal injury space and its intricacies. 

For these reasons and more, we’re thrilled to continue backing EvenUp. Learn more about the company at: https://www.evenuplaw.com/