Acquisition Overview

Harvey, the high‑flying legal AI startup, announced the acquisition of Hexus, a two‑year‑old company that creates AI‑powered tools for product demos, videos, and guides. The transaction brings Hexus’s San Francisco‑based engineering team directly into Harvey’s operations, while the firm’s India‑based engineers will be integrated once Harvey establishes a new office in Bangalore. Founder and CEO Sakshi Pratap, who previously held engineering roles at Walmart, Oracle, and Google, will lead an engineering group focused on accelerating Harvey’s offerings for in‑house legal departments.

Hexus Background and Funding

Hexus had raised $1.6 million from Pear VC, Liquid 2 Ventures, and a group of angel investors before the acquisition. While Pratap declined to disclose the exact terms of the deal, she emphasized that the structure centers on long‑term team incentives, aligning the interests of both companies as they move forward together.

Harvey’s Growth Trajectory

The acquisition arrives as Harvey seeks to cement its position as one of the hottest AI startups in the legal technology sector. The company confirmed a valuation of $8 billion after a $160 million financing round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from T. Rowe Price, WndrCo, Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Conviction, and angel investor Elad Gil. This latest round brings Harvey’s total funding to $760 million, up from an earlier $3 billion valuation following a $300 million Series D round led by Sequoia.

Harvey now claims more than 1,000 clients across 60 countries, including a majority of the top 10 U.S. law firms. The company’s rapid expansion reflects a broader competitive landscape in legal tech, where AI‑driven solutions are reshaping how law firms and corporate legal departments operate.

Founders’ Vision and Early Roots

Co‑founder and CEO Winston Weinberg traced Harvey’s origin to a cold email sent to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman while he was a first‑year associate at O’Melveny & Myers. Together with co‑founder Gabe Pereyra, a former Google DeepMind and Meta researcher, they tested GPT‑3 on landlord‑tenant law questions sourced from Reddit. Their early prototype produced answers that two‑thirds of attorneys reviewed without any edits, convincing the founders that AI could transform the legal industry.

Following that breakthrough, Weinberg and Pereyra reached out to Altman on July 4, 2022, secured a call the same morning, and received an early check from the OpenAI Startup Fund, which remains Harvey’s second‑largest investor.

Strategic Implications

By acquiring Hexus, Harvey gains deep expertise in building enterprise AI tools in adjacent problem spaces, a capability that Pratap believes will help the company move faster in an increasingly competitive market. The integration of Hexus’s technology and talent is expected to broaden Harvey’s product suite, offering more sophisticated automation and guidance tools for legal teams.

The move also underscores Harvey’s commitment to global expansion, with plans to establish a presence in Bangalore to tap into a robust engineering talent pool. As the legal tech sector continues to evolve, Harvey’s combination of strong funding, a growing client base, and strategic acquisitions positions it to remain a leading player in AI‑enabled legal services.

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