The co-founders of plant-based food brand THIS are behind a new AI-first law firm which has just raised 拢2 million in seed funding.
Andy Shovel and Pete Sharman sold their burger chain business back in 2016 and two years later founded THIS, a market-leading vegan brand with cheeky marketing which recently announced its first profitable month.
Now they have turned their attention to something completely different.
鈥淚n a quite natural and linear progression from selling vegan sausages, I’m proud to announce that I’m now co-founding a law firm called Keith,鈥� Shovel wrote on LinkedIn.
鈥淎bout a year ago, I tried to buy a house. It went spectacularly wrong, I got really grumpy and complained – a lot. But like any grumpy founder, I’ve channelled the bad mood into an attempt to solve the problem, via Keith.鈥�
Shovel described the house-buying experience as a 鈥渕onumental shocker鈥� sleepless nights, hounding solicitors and a dodgy seller – the full works鈥�.聽
He added: 鈥淚 was blown away by how clunky the process was, and how no technology was being incorporated to help.鈥�
Keith, set to launch this summer, claims to automate 80% of traditionally human workflows and has a 24/7 AI-powered client helpline.聽
Backed VC led Keith鈥檚 seed round, with Breega and several angel investors also making up the 拢2m.
鈥淔or most people, dealing with a solicitor means waiting, chasing and not knowing what鈥檚 going on. Keith removed those pain-points using technology, and we鈥檙e hugely excited to back the business,鈥� said Andre De Haes, partner at Backed VC.聽
Sam Tucker, Keith’s third founder who oversees product, previously started hybrid scheduling platform Common Surface.聽
Eddie Goldsmith – former chairman of the UK Conveyancing Association and founder of a market-leading conveyancing firm in the 90s – is a strategic advisor and non-executive director.
Each year, more than 530,000 UK property transactions fall through, causing untold emotional and financial strain, within a system widely seen as slow, opaque and fundamentally broken. Conveyancing will be Keith鈥檚 first market, before it expands to other practice areas.
At the core of Keith is a network of specialised AI agents that handle document review, drafting, communication and workflow management, all within tightly controlled legal frameworks and with human oversight.聽
The result is a firm designed to operate continuously, rapidly and with client service levels usually only available to high net-worth clients.
Keith is targeting a 70% reduction in transaction times in the hope of mitigating risk and stress for clients.聽
In a first for UK legal services, Keith鈥檚 client service agent will be available 24/7 via phone and WhatsApp, and will be almost indistinguishable from a person – with the ability to answer questions, provide updates and take actions instantly.聽
The company is entering a 拢54 billion UK legal market that remains highly fragmented and largely unchanged for decades – a market it believes is now ripe to be disrupted by tech-first brands like Keith.聽
鈥淟egal services haven鈥檛 yet been transformed by tech,鈥� said Shovel. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 coming. And when it does, it won鈥檛 look like a traditional law firm with software bolted on – we think it will look like Keith.鈥�