From Unlikely Friendship to Legal Tech Innovation: Definely’s Journey
For lawyers Nnamdi Emelifeonwu (pictured) and Feargus MacDaeid, their journeys converged in an unlikely friendship that sparked an idea to transform how the legal industry works with contracts and documents.
Their startup, Definely, has now raised $7 million in a Series A round led by Octopus Ventures to fuel its legaltech innovation and counts some of the largest legal firms in the world among its clients, including Allen & Overy (now A&O Shearman), Eversheds, DLA Piper, Deloitte, Ericsson and Barclays.
Definely was born from Emelifeonwu and MacDaeid’s experiences at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
MacDaeid, (pictured) who has the rare degenerative condition Retinitis Pigmentosa impacting his vision, faced immense challenges poring over legal documents page by page. Emelifeonwu, whose parents fled unrest in Benin, recognized his colleague’s struggles. “Can anything be done to make your work life easier?” he asked MacDaeid.
From that pivotal question, the duo discovered a solution that could enhance contract management not just for those with visual impairments, but for all lawyers.
The company was founded in 2020 and backed by Microsoft and Google. In 2023 it was named in the top 25 of the prestigious Deloitte UK Technology Fast50, a list of the UK’s fastest-growing tech companies – launched its first product in September 2020
Delivered as a Microsoft Word plugin, Definely makes legal documents easier to read, edit and understand through its suite of AI-powered productivity tools. Its capabilities like auto-generated clause taxonomies provide lawyers significant time savings over manual document review.
LegalTech’s Rapid Growth
The startup’s rapid growth and cutting-edge technology caught the attention of investors. Definely’s $7 million Series A round included participation from prominent angels like Claire Hughes Johnson, formerly COO at Stripe.
“Definely is a testament to the power of diverse perspectives and accessibility first in innovation,” said Emelifeonwu, the CEO.
“Before we built Definely, lawyers that needed to access information and understand contracts would use Ctrl+F keys, multiple windows, scroll through hundreds of pages, or simply print out documents so that they could reference all the information in one place. As someone who is visually impaired, you can imagine the challenge this represented for me.”
“It sounds like an obvious problem, but you wouldn’t believe how many hours law firms can spend just looking for the right information,” he said.
With legal industry heavyweights like Allen & Overy, Slaughter & May and Dentons Definely is well-positioned to make further inroads modernizing lawyer workflows and the $60 billion legal tech market. The Series A funds will allow it to expand its technical team and AI capabilities.
“What started as a solution to improve accessibility has evolved into a productivity boost for all lawyers,” said Edward Keelan, partner at Octopus Ventures.
From an improbable friendship sprung an innovation propelling the legal sector into the future of document management and contract review.
With new funding, Definely is poised to further reshape how law firms and lawyers operate.
