In order to gain a competitive edge, legal teams are spending more than ever on software solutions.
Now, Norway-based legaltech startup TheLawyerGuide.com which offers a platform for reviewing lawyers (similar to how Tripadvisor works) has raised €475,000 via a new share issue on the crowdfunding platform Folkeinvest.no, which values the company at €4M. The round saw participation from 50 new shareholders.
TheLawyerGuide.com was first introduced as Advokatguiden in Norway in 2020 and has since grown to include Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The company will broaden its operations in 2023 to include the United States and a number of other substantial European nations.
Founded by Erling Løken Andersen, Ali Ahmed (CEO) and Francois Savard, TheLawyerGuide.com claims to list all national lawyers on its platform. Lawyers can claim their profile and add more details to it. The company makes money by showcasing the attorneys who pay for the service and by introducing those attorneys to potential new clients. The platform also provides lawyers with a web-based SaaS marketing suite.
The Lawyer Guide was Erling’s idea, and he quickly enlisted Francois Savard to help with the design. Ali Ahmed eventually joined the company as CEO and led the company’s expansion into countries like Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
Erling and Ali were both attorneys in Norway in the past. They held legal positions in industries like IT, real estate, and finance. They had firsthand knowledge of how opaque the legal sector is. What is the cost of hiring a lawyer? How do attorneys stack up against one another? What areas of law do they specialise in? Other than what the attorneys may say about themselves, none of this is publicly available data.
The Lawyer Guide team consists of 7 people today: Ali, Erling, Francois, Jernej (CTO) and 3 sales people and it terms of diversification, it includes 6 men and 1 woman. In terms of geographical background, Erling is from Norway, Ali is Pakistani-Norwegian, Francois is French, Jernej is Croatian, sales people are from Sweden and Denmark.
Ali Ahmed, CEO of TheLawyerGuide.com said, “We are ecstatic to have completed our first public seed round. We anticipate that the raise will take us to profitability in several key markets, including Norway and Sweden. Later this year, we are also launching in the UK, Italy, France and the US. Eventually, further funding may be required, but this takes us far towards our goal of global expansion.”
Ali Ahmed is the general manager of TheLawyerGuide.com and a former attorney. Erling Lken Andersen, an IT entrepreneur and former lawyer who founded the platform in 2020, was replaced by him when he was hired earlier this year. Ahmed is now in charge of TheLawyerGuide.com’s international operations.
“Our goal is really to make TheLawyerGuide.com into the world’s largest lawyer review platform. We have the technology, the skill set and the right people to get the job done,” added Ahmed.
“With more and more fake reviews everywhere, consumers need someone they can trust in the marketplace. Our aim is to make TheLawyerGuide that someone, and an essential part of a lawyer selection process.”
TheLawyerGuide.com has attracted nearly a million visitors since its launch in 2020 across its five live markets in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, and Switzerland.
