Latest news with #RossMcNairn
The Herald Scotland
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Former Skyscanner chief raises $25m for Edinburgh start-up
Ross McNairn, a former head of product at Edinburgh-based Skyscanner, has secured the backing from Index Ventures to scale Wordsmith AI, an artificial intelligence tool that is rapidly gaining traction within in-house legal departments. The Edinburgh-based company, which counts Trustpilot, Deliveroo, Multiverse, and Docplanner among its growing customer base, is planning to open offices in London and New York later this year. Its growth comes as AI technology is transforming processes across the legal sector. Mr McNairn, chief executive and co-founder of Wordsmith, said: 'For the first time, AI infrastructure can be embedded across companies, with fleets of agents that you can train to support every corporate function - cutting deal cycles, answering queries, and processing complex workflows. Our Legal Enablement Platform is like air traffic control for GCs and in-house teams, helping them guide teams to the right decisions faster.' Read more: Mr McNairn launched Wordsmith after being involved in the development of three unicorns – companies that achieve a valuation of $1 billion. As well as Skyscanner, which was sold by founders, including chief executive Gareth Williams, to Ctrip of China for £1.4bn in 2016, Mr McNair helped to scale TravelPerk and letgo to that status. It is understood that Wordsmith achieved a valuation of $100m faster than any other Scottish start-up, underlining the potential of the Scottish technology sector. Mr McNairn, a lawyer turned engineer who has previously secured backing for Wordsmith from Scottish Enterprise, added: 'While we are the fastest-ever Scottish start-up to reach a valuation of over $100m, what's more important is that we're scaling a technology company from a base in Scotland that will in itself help to build an AI ecosystem here.' Hannah Seal, partner at Index Ventures, said: 'AI is revolutionising the legal profession, and Wordsmith is leading that charge. They are not just building a co-pilot, they are creating the foundational infrastructure for how entire organisations interact with legal. This is about reshaping enterprise operations, not just supporting legal teams. We are excited to back Ross and the Wordsmith team as they define a new category at the intersection of law, technology, and AI.' Kate Forbes, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic, said: 'Private investment is an essential building block of a strong and growing economy – and fundamental to ensuring businesses can grow and succeed. Scottish companies bucked the UK trend last year by attracting more than £700m of investment – up by a fifth on 2023 - and it is fantastic news that Wordsmith AI, a Techscaler member, has secured its $25m Series A funding round in such a short space of time. 'There can, must and will be many more success stories like this. From the Techscaler programme and our wider pipeline of support for entrepreneurs, to continuing to position Scotland as an investment destination, the Scottish Government will continue to help our start-up companies grow and prosper.'
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wordsmith AI Raises $25M Series A from Index Ventures to Deploy Fleets of Legal AI Agents and Power the Rise of Legal Engineers
Wordsmith empowers GCs and in-house teams with infrastructure that deploys agents bringing legal intelligence across organisations AI is reshaping the legal profession and Wordsmith is taking the lead in training a new generation of legal engineers Edinburgh-headquartered Wordsmith set to open London and New York offices later this year to track customer growth Wordsmith was founded by lawyer turned engineer Ross McNairn in 2024, McNairn previously helped to scale three tech unicorns EDINBURGH, Scotland, June 03, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wordsmith AI has secured a $25m series A led by Index Ventures to scale its AI infrastructure that deploys legal agents across organisations to guide them to outcomes faster. With AI transforming the legal profession and giving rise to entirely new roles - like the 'legal engineer' - Wordsmith is leading the charge, embedding fleets of AI agents into corporations and training teams to wield them. Ross McNairn, CEO and Co-founder of Wordsmith, says: "For the first time, AI infrastructure can be embedded across companies, with fleets of agents that you can train to support every corporate function - cutting deal cycles, answering queries, and processing complex workflows. Our Legal Enablement Platform is like air traffic control for GCs and in-house teams, helping them guide teams to the right decisions faster." With a customer base that includes Trustpilot, Deliveroo, Multiverse, Docplanner, and hundreds of other in-house teams, Wordsmith is recording strong revenue growth across the UK and US, with the company set to open offices in both London and New York later this year. Explaining the strong customer traction, Ross McNairn adds: "We are helping GCs embed their legal intelligence across the business. Gone are the days of legal being seen as a blocker, it is now a revenue accelerator." Huge change and opportunity for legal jobs Wordsmith's technology is not only transforming how legal teams operate, but also helping to shape a new generation of legal professionals. As AI agents become embedded across corporate functions, the company is seeing the emergence of a new role within legal departments: the legal engineer. Traditionally handled by legal operations managers, this evolving function focuses on training, deploying, and supporting AI agents, requiring an entirely new skill set. To support this shift, Wordsmith invests significantly in training and upskilling legal professionals, enabling them to harness the full potential of its platform. This marks a broader generational shift in the legal labour market, as professionals adapt to leverage AI and take on more strategic, high-impact roles. Commenting on this shift, Ross McNairn says: "We're witnessing the birth of an entirely new role in legal: the legal engineer. These are the people training, deploying, and managing fleets of AI agents. We're helping to re-skill an entire generation to do it." Wordsmith AI was founded by lawyer turned engineer Ross McNairn in 2024. McNairn had previously helped to scale three tech unicorns, as Chief Product and Technology Officer at TravelPerk, VP of Product at letgo, and Head of Product at Skyscanner. Hannah Seal, Partner, Index Ventures, said: "AI is revolutionising the legal profession, and Wordsmith is leading that charge. They're not just building a co-pilot, they're creating the foundational infrastructure for how entire organisations interact with legal. This is about reshaping enterprise operations, not just supporting legal teams. We're excited to back Ross and the Wordsmith team as they define a new category at the intersection of law, technology and AI." Notes: Gartner predicts the global legal technology market will reach $50 billion by 2027 as a result of GenAI: For more information and to book a demo: View source version on Contacts Media contact:Nick Freernick@ Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Wire
03-06-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Wordsmith AI Raises $25M Series A from Index Ventures to Deploy Fleets of Legal AI Agents and Power the Rise of Legal Engineers
EDINBURGH, Scotland--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Wordsmith AI has secured a $25m series A led by Index Ventures to scale its AI infrastructure that deploys legal agents across organisations to guide them to outcomes faster. With AI transforming the legal profession and giving rise to entirely new roles - like the 'legal engineer' - Wordsmith is leading the charge, embedding fleets of AI agents into corporations and training teams to wield them. Wordsmith AI Raises $25M Series A from Index Ventures to Deploy Fleets of Legal AI Agents and Power the Rise of Legal Engineers Share Ross McNairn, CEO and Co-founder of Wordsmith, says: 'For the first time, AI infrastructure can be embedded across companies, with fleets of agents that you can train to support every corporate function - cutting deal cycles, answering queries, and processing complex workflows. Our Legal Enablement Platform is like air traffic control for GCs and in-house teams, helping them guide teams to the right decisions faster.' With a customer base that includes Trustpilot, Deliveroo, Multiverse, Docplanner, and hundreds of other in-house teams, Wordsmith is recording strong revenue growth across the UK and US, with the company set to open offices in both London and New York later this year. Explaining the strong customer traction, Ross McNairn adds: 'We are helping GCs embed their legal intelligence across the business. Gone are the days of legal being seen as a blocker, it is now a revenue accelerator.' Huge change and opportunity for legal jobs Wordsmith's technology is not only transforming how legal teams operate, but also helping to shape a new generation of legal professionals. As AI agents become embedded across corporate functions, the company is seeing the emergence of a new role within legal departments: the legal engineer. Traditionally handled by legal operations managers, this evolving function focuses on training, deploying, and supporting AI agents, requiring an entirely new skill set. To support this shift, Wordsmith invests significantly in training and upskilling legal professionals, enabling them to harness the full potential of its platform. This marks a broader generational shift in the legal labour market, as professionals adapt to leverage AI and take on more strategic, high-impact roles. Commenting on this shift, Ross McNairn says: 'We're witnessing the birth of an entirely new role in legal: the legal engineer. These are the people training, deploying, and managing fleets of AI agents. We're helping to re-skill an entire generation to do it.' Wordsmith AI was founded by lawyer turned engineer Ross McNairn in 2024. McNairn had previously helped to scale three tech unicorns, as Chief Product and Technology Officer at TravelPerk, VP of Product at letgo, and Head of Product at Skyscanner. Hannah Seal, Partner, Index Ventures, said: 'AI is revolutionising the legal profession, and Wordsmith is leading that charge. They're not just building a co-pilot, they're creating the foundational infrastructure for how entire organisations interact with legal. This is about reshaping enterprise operations, not just supporting legal teams. We're excited to back Ross and the Wordsmith team as they define a new category at the intersection of law, technology and AI.'
