The Toronto firm says its annual profitability is approaching $10 million as it confronts Harvey, Legora.
Since based in Toronto Alexi is approaching a revenue milestone, its CEO says the competitive artificial intelligence (AI)-powered legal tech landscape is akin to “war.”
Mark Doble, co-founder of the startup in 2017, stated: Alexi the number of users has increased by 3,000 percent over last year, and it now serves more than 600 mid-market and enterprise law firms as clients. These firms include Oatley Vigmond in Ontario and MacLean Law in Vancouver.
“Our positioning [that] This is a war and we will win. None of these “rising tides lift all boats.”
Mark Double, Alexi
But Alexi's rapid growth comes amid a hyper-competitive legal tech landscape, where many law firms are rushing to adopt artificial intelligence tools. This has led to industry players such as Thomson Reuters And LexisNexis to implement your own artificial intelligence solutions. Meanwhile, capital is flowing into startups: this month, a Toronto company Spellbook raised $50 million US dollars for “the second pilot project of artificial intelligence for lawyers.” Canadian technology largest software funding round in history Last year I went to Legaltech Clio.
Despite the rise in popularity of LegalTech, Doble is confident in Alexi's competitive advantage. In an interview with BetaKit, he described workflow automation for midmarket and enterprise law firms as a “race of three” between his startup, US company Harvey, and European firm Legora.
“Our positioning [that] This is a war and we will win. None of these “rising tides lift all boats.” We are superior to our competitors in every way,” he said.
San Francisco-based legal software provider Harvey was recently valued at US$5 billion and announced plans in August expand your presence in Canada with over 20 roles in Toronto. Harvey declined to comment for this article.
Legora, a major player in the European market, raised a US$80 million Series B round at a US$675 million valuation earlier this year. He claims to have served over 400 clients. Legora did not respond to requests for comment.
CONNECTED: Spellbook raises $50 million Series B led by Khosla Ventures
Alexi sells artificial intelligence-powered litigation software designed to help lawyers and legal teams create research briefs, identify relevant legal issues and arguments, and automate routine tasks. The company has recently stepped up the creation of custom workflows for law firms, creating a library of agency workflows that firms can tailor to their needs.
As the use of artificial intelligence in the industry gains momentum, lawyers are having concerns about its implementation. A 2024 survey of 443 Canadian lawyers, a survey by legal technology company Appara found that concerns about data privacy, security and tool accuracy are “holding back the legal industry from fully adopting AI.” Twenty-six percent of respondents were concerned about the risks and ethical implications of using AI, and 23 percent did not trust how their data was being used.
Part of Alexi's competitive advantage is its new, security-focused data hosting service option, Doble said. This year, Alexi debuted private cloud deployment as a security-enhancing option based on single-tenant architecture. This means that there is one instance of the Alexi software application for each individual customer firm, reducing the risk of insecure data transfers. Data security has become a hot issue in Canada as the federal government explores 'sovereign' cloud hosting reduce its dependence on American companies.
In a single-tenant environment, Doble said, it is the customer who benefits from any investment made in the platform, not the vendor. “This is really incentivizing law firms to invest in their own AI technology,” he said.
Speaking about the numbers, Doble noted that the private cloud has allowed Alexi to grow significantly this year. The company says it will reach $10 million in annual sales by the end of the year (monthly revenue times 12). Its income is roughly split between Canada and its neighbor to the south, he said, with a slight preference for the United States.
As Alexi expands its footprint, it plans to open an office in New York next year, but its headquarters will remain in Canada. To date, the company has raised nearly C$25 million to fuel its growth, including US$4.5 million in funding. venture debt this February.
Unlike some other companies in Canada who are adopting AI-focused strategies, Alexi is not slowing down its hiring. Doble said the company wants to double its 50-person team across product, engineering and sales by January 2026. While “the AI capability is critical” for the entire team, “we have no shortage of ideas that we can implement and things that need to be built” for clients, he said.
“If you're not hiring, if you're not growing, you're out of ideas,” Doble added.
Image courtesy of Alexey.
