Robin AI Joins Tech Nation’s ‘Applied AI’ Accelerator

NLP-driven contract review ALSP, Robin AI, has been chosen as one of 32 companies to join Tech Nation’s Applied AI accelerator programme. US law firm Wilson Sonsini is also backing this year’s initiative. Robin AI is the only legal tech business to join the group.

Members of the new cohort will gain access to ‘insight sessions’ over six months delivered by later-stage founders, all focused on ‘key scaling challenges’; as well as six coaching sessions with a startup coach; along with regular networking opportunities, such as with investors, corporates, and peers. So, all in all, a very handy accelerator-type programme.

Richard Robinson, (pictured) CEO and Founder of Robin AI, told Artificial Lawyer: ‘We’re really excited to have been selected. It’s a huge vote of confidence from one of the country’s most prestigious technology bodies, and validates a lot of the complex, ground breaking technical work we’ve been doing over the last few years. We’re also very proud to be flying the flag for the legal technology space as the only legal tech company selected this year.

‘Being selected amongst such an elite cohort of applied AI startups like this will help us continue to attract the country’s best engineering and legal talent so we can achieve our mission to make contracts simple.’

This site then went on to ask how things are going generally for the UK-based ALSP, which started in 2019 and has a partnership with The Law Boutique. It also has worked with law firms such as Clifford Chance and Foot Anstey, as well as corporates Babylon healthcare, Hayfin, and Yum.

‘Things are going very, very well. I think we’ve surprised even ourselves with progress and our belief in the AI+ model has really strengthened this year.

‘We are still working with The Law Boutique where it feels right for our client base, and we’ll continue to do that going forward,’ he added.

Earlier this year Robin AI also won a financial award from Google as part of the giant company’s Black Founders Fund project.

Going back to Tech Nation, the UK taxpayer-funded innovation group, Sam Beni, the Applied AI programme lead, added: ‘We at Tech Nation are delighted to welcome such a wide range of innovative companies to our third Applied AI cohort, and to support them on their scaling journeys.

‘Following the turbulence of 2020 with the global pandemic, the number of Applied AI scaleups focusing on transforming the world of healthcare is a beacon of hope for the coming years, and the breadth of industries that these AI scaleups are disrupting is testament to AI’s power to shape the world we live in.’

Companies accepted into the new cohort are across: agritech, foodtech, legal tech, retail tech, energy, proptech, fintech, and femtech.

And here is a little map of where they are all from. As you can see, 21 are from London and the South East, with other parts of the UK providing between one and four companies each. Healthtech is the largest sector group with 10 companies.

Tech Nation also runs the LawtechUK group.