Legal tech startup Wordsmith AI has reached a valuation of more than $100 million just 18 months after its launch — a milestone it claims is the fastest ever for a Scottish-founded technology company.
The Edinburgh-based firm, which has developed an AI platform to automate and streamline legal operations, secured the valuation following a $25 million Series A funding round led by Index Ventures. Scottish Enterprise also participated in the investment.
Founded in 2023 by Ross McNairn, Volodymyr Giginiak and Robbie Falkenthal, Wordsmith AI has already signed up hundreds of corporate clients, including Trustpilot, Deliveroo and edtech firm Multiverse. Its software acts as an “air traffic control” system for legal teams, deploying fleets of trained AI agents to handle tasks such as processing queries, reviewing documents and managing compliance workflows.
“This is about building a generational technology company from a base in Scotland,” said CEO McNairn. “While we are the fastest-ever Scottish startup to reach a valuation of over $100 million, what’s more important is that we’re helping to build an AI ecosystem here.”
Wordsmith is now preparing to open offices in London and New York later this year to support its international expansion.
A qualified lawyer who retrained as a software engineer, McNairn began his tech career at Edinburgh travel unicorn Skyscanner, where he rose to head of product. He initially made contact with Skyscanner co-founder Gareth Williams by sending a speculative email asking for advice — a meeting that proved transformative. Williams is now one of Wordsmith’s backers.
“There’s a strong culture in Scotland of helping others into the start-up ecosystem,” said Williams. “Ross struck me as smart, curious and entrepreneurial, and what he’s building with Wordsmith is genuinely exciting. It’s about creating new value — not just automating existing work, but rethinking how legal teams operate.”
At the heart of Wordsmith’s offering is a shift in how corporate legal departments function. Rather than simply replacing tasks, the platform enables teams to build, train and deploy AI “agents” that can respond to internal queries, process contracts and reduce deal cycles — all with human oversight.
McNairn believes this signals a fundamental evolution in the legal profession. “We’re witnessing the birth of an entirely new role: the legal engineer,” he said. “These are professionals trained to manage and optimise AI tools within legal teams. Our mission is to re-skill an entire generation of legal talent to do just that.”
Wordsmith’s rapid ascent also reflects a wider trend in enterprise AI adoption, particularly in sectors that have historically been slower to embrace digital transformation. The legal industry, often reliant on manual processes and expensive external counsel, has emerged as a prime candidate for disruption.
With this latest investment, Wordsmith plans to scale up its engineering and customer success teams, and expand its AI infrastructure to support more complex use cases across multiple industries. The company says its platform is already being used not only by legal departments but also in compliance, procurement and HR.
“AI is no longer just a buzzword — it’s being embedded across entire enterprises,” McNairn added. “Our customers aren’t just experimenting with it, they’re building real workflows and seeing tangible ROI. And we’re only getting started.”
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Wordsmith AI becomes fastest Scottish startup to hit $100m valuation