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Theo Ai Secures 4.2MM Seed Round to Advance AI-Powered Settlement Prediction for Big Law

By Harry Moran |
May 19, 2025

Theo Ai Secures 4.2MM Seed Round to Advance AI-Powered Settlement Prediction for Big Law

Theo Ai, the AI-driven prediction platform for litigation, has raised a $4.2 million seed round just six months after its $2.2 million pre-seed announcement in November. The round was co-led by returning investor NextView Ventures and new investor Collide Capital. As part of the investment, Aaron Samuels, General Partner at Collide Capital, will join Theo Ai’s board. The funds will be used to expand proprietary data pipelines, enhance legal corpus, and reinforce supervised learning with legal experts.

“The legal industry is at a turning point, and AI-powered predictions are becoming essential for managing client expectations and executive decision-making,” said Patrick Ip, Co-founder and CEO of Theo Ai. “With this investment, we will continue to develop the infrastructure that makes settlement predictions more precise and valuable for law firms and corporate legal teams.”

Theo Ai will use the new capital to accelerate product development, focusing on its AI-powered settlement prediction tools tailored for Big Law firms and General Counsels. The company is committed to building firm-specific prediction engines that leverage case history and proprietary data to provide actionable insights across a wider array of legal scenarios.

“The leadership team within Theo Ai continues to demonstrate a deep understanding of customer needs and the way advanced technology can reshape the legal field for decades to come” said Co-Founder and Partner at NextView, Rob Go. “this round came together very quickly because customers are quickly adopting what they see as a uniquely valuable solution.”

“Theo Ai is transforming the way legal teams predict and manage settlements, and we are excited to back their next phase of growth,” said Aaron Samuels. “Having crossed paths with Patrick early in our respective founder journeys, it’s incredible to now collaborate in building the future of AI-driven legal intelligence.”

The funding round also marks a significant expansion of Theo Ai’s leadership team with the appointment of Jay Mandal as Chief Product Officer. A Stanford Law Lecturer and former COO at SAP, Mandal brings deep expertise in AI, enterprise technology, and legal innovation. He previously was the head M&A attorney at Apple and founded a legal tech company acquired by Rocket Lawyer. The company also welcomed Rob Martorana as Head of Partnerships. A former attorney with over 25 years in legal sales and marketing, including 12 years in litigation finance, Rob brings deep expertise across portfolio, single-case, and corporate monetization strategies. He most recently founded REMO Litigation Finance and served as SVP at Burford Capital.

Theo Ai’s seed round saw participation from all pre-seed investors, including nvp capital, Ripple Ventures, and Beat Ventures. The round also welcomed new investors Four Acres Capital and a distinguished group of angel investors from across legal, finance, and technology:

  • David Fox (Kirkland & Ellis)
  • Bo Berluti (RTP Global)
  • Ramesh Dhanaraj (ex-Fortress Investment Group)
  • Vivek Nasta (ex-Thomson Reuters)
  • Akash Garg (ex-Uber)
  • Art Calcagnini (ex-UBS)

Theo Ai initially launched by helping litigation funders optimize their investment decisions – recently partnering with Mustang Litigation Funding – and has rapidly expanded into serving Big Law and in-house legal teams. The strong market demand led to an oversubscribed seed round, reinforcing confidence in Theo Ai’s technology and vision.

With this latest funding, Theo Ai is poised to drive the future of AI-powered legal decision-making, delivering cutting-edge predictive solutions for the legal industry.

To learn more and join the waitlist for Theo Ai, visit: Theo Ai

About Theo Ai

Theo Ai is the first predictive engine designed by technical and legal professionals to forecast the outcome of legal disputes. Its AI models are trained on historical case data and incorporate real-time analytics with predictive modeling to deliver accurate and actionable insights. Theo Ai is meeting the most critical need for legal professionals – offering accurate case outcome predictions, backed by data. To learn more and join the waitlist for Theo Ai, visit: https://theoai.ai/#product

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Harry Moran

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Announcements Commercial

Burford’s Q2 Profits Surge on New Capital

By John Freund |

Burford Capital has delivered its strongest quarterly performance in two years, buoyed by a swelling pipeline of high-value disputes and a fresh infusion of investor cash.

A press release in PR Newswire reveals that the New York- and London-listed funder more than doubled revenue and profitability in the three months to 30 June 2025. CEO Christopher Bogart credited “very substantial levels of new business” for the uptick, noting that demand for non-recourse financing remains “as strong as we’ve ever seen.”

The stellar quarter follows a lightning-quick, two-day debt offering in July that raised $500 million—capital Burford says will be deployed across a growing roster of commercial litigations, international arbitrations, and asset-recovery campaigns. Management also highlighted significant progress in portfolio rotations, underscoring the firm’s ability to monetise older positions while writing new ones at scale. Investors will get a deeper dive when Burford hosts its earnings call today at 9 a.m. EDT.

Burford’s results arrive amid heightened regulatory chatter in Washington and Westminster, yet the numbers suggest the industry’s largest player is unfazed—for now—by talk of disclosure mandates and tax levies. The firm emphasised that its legal-finance, risk-management and asset-recovery businesses remain uncorrelated to broader markets, a pitch that continues to resonate with pension funds and endowments hunting for alternative yield.

For litigation-finance insiders, Burford’s capital-raising prowess and improving margins could have ripple effects: rival funders may face stiffer competition for marquee cases, while law-firm partners might leverage the firm’s deeper pockets to negotiate richer portfolio deals.

Announcements Commercial

International Legal Finance Association (ILFA) Announces End of Year Gala and Inaugural Legal Finance Awards

By John Freund |

 The International Legal Finance Association is pleased to announce its annual End-of-Year Gala Dinner on November 13, 2025.  The event will take place at The Law Society in London, bringing together leading figures from across the legal finance industry for an evening of celebration and reflection on the year’s achievements.  

The dinner will be accompanied by the inaugural Legal Finance Awards.  The awards are designed to recognize and honor excellence across the legal finance ecosystem. They will spotlight the achievements of funders, law firms, brokers, advisors, and other key contributors to the continued growth and innovation of the industry. Nominations for the awards are now open, with the nomination form available here. 

“The Gala Dinner is a chance for our members and guests to gather in person and celebrate the progress we've made over the year,” said Rupert Cunningham, Global Director of Growth and Membership Engagement at ILFA. “We are especially excited to launch the Legal Finance Awards, which will shine a light on the outstanding work and impact of professionals across our field.”

Tickets for the Gala are on sale now, with discounted pricing available for ILFA members.  More information can be found here.

Announcements Commercial Legal Innovation

Sentry Expands Free Funding Market Search for Litigators

By John Freund |

Sentry Funding’s free tool enabling litigators to instantly search the funding market on behalf of clients has been expanded.

Sentry’s free ‘decision in principle’ feature enables lawyers to evidence to clients that they have conducted a broad market search, even if funding is not ultimately taken out.

Having deployed £125m in funding across a range of case types, Sentry now has access to an even broader funding marketplace, covering 34 global jurisdictions. Finance is provided by 13 funders, five of which are members of the Association of Litigation Funders.

With the recent addition of Sentry’s first US-based funder, the US offering will now be expanding over the next few months. 

A faster process

Sentry has deployed the latest technology to make the search for funding even easier. 

  • The intuitive application process now only asks questions relevant to previous answers, saving lawyers time.
  • The commercial marketplace has been redeveloped with 63 new data points added to the funder criteria matrix - improving the accuracy of case / funder matching
  • Sentry has also begun building out its AI capabilities, starting with an automated auditing tool for live case progression audits. 

Tom Webster, chief executive officer at Sentry Funding, said:

‘By broadening our reach and speeding up the process, we’re making it even easier for lawyers to raise funding. We’re also giving litigators an easy way to show clients they have fully researched the market, rather than just approaching one or two funders. 

‘The service is free to use, so even if clients decide they do not ultimately want funding or if none is available for that case, for the lawyer, it makes sense to use our “decision in principle” feature, so they can put evidence on file that they did check the market.’

Sentry Funding is an SaaS (software as a service) technology provider that gives solicitors access to a diverse marketplace of litigation funders. It works with solicitors, funders and third-party providers to ensure claimants are getting the most efficient service for their funding needs. 

The Sentry Portal also acts as a case management system that runs a transparent digital case file for solicitors, funders, after-the-event insurance providers, barristers, cost lawyers and other relevant third parties.