Harvey’s Bold European Expansion: Can the US Legaltech Unicorn Conquer the Continent?

Jan 16, 2026 - 05:00

Winston Weinberg, founder and CEO of US legaltech unicorn Harvey, spends more time in rainy London than many residents of San Francisco’s sunny climes might hope to. Yet for Weinberg, needs must. Harvey has its sights set on Europe — and is fast building out its 75+ person team in London, along with opening offices in Spain, Germany and, as of this week, Paris.

“We want everyone to be using Harvey,” the founder, who’s been backed by Andreessen Horowitz, along with EQT and Evantic, tells Sifted. The big question: will he succeed? In Europe, Harvey’s going up against a notable competitor — Swedish unicorn Legora — while Big Tech model makers also loom over the fast-growing legaltech market.

The $8 Billion Ambition

Harvey’s aggressive European push comes on the heels of extraordinary momentum in its home market. The San Francisco-based company recently closed a $160 million funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, valuing the business at $8 billion—a remarkable achievement for a company founded just two years ago in 2022. The valuation represents a 60% increase from its $5 billion Series E round earlier in 2025, demonstrating the venture capital community’s conviction that legal AI represents a transformational opportunity.

The company has already secured over 1,000 customers worldwide, with more than 300 based in Europe. Its client roster reads like a who’s who of the legal elite, including 50 of the top AmLaw 100 firms and major corporate legal departments. By August 2025, Harvey had surpassed $190 million in annual recurring revenue, and the company now plans to expand beyond large law firms to target smaller practices—a move that could dramatically accelerate its European footprint.

For European business leaders watching the legaltech space, Harvey’s expansion represents both opportunity and competitive threat. The company’s domain-trained AI platform assists with legal research, document drafting, contract analysis, and other core legal workflows—tasks that have historically consumed enormous billable hours.

The Swedish Challenge: Legora’s Home Advantage

Harvey isn’t entering virgin territory. Stockholm-based Legora achieved unicorn status in late 2025 after raising $150 million in Series C funding at a $1.8 billion valuation, led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from ICONIQ, General Catalyst, Redpoint Ventures, Benchmark, and Y Combinator. Founded in 2023 by CEO Max Junestrand and CTO Sigge Labor, Legora has built a formidable presence across Europe with over 400 clients spanning 40 markets.

Legora’s collaborative AI platform supports document review, drafting, and research tasks for law firms and corporate legal departments. The company works with prestigious European firms including Linklaters, Cleary Gottlieb, Goodwin, and Bird & Bird. With offices in Stockholm, London, New York, Denver, and Sydney, Legora employs nearly 200 legal experts and technologists and plans to more than double its team size in 2026.

The competition between Harvey and Legora mirrors broader trends reshaping European business and technology, where American technology companies face increasingly sophisticated homegrown challengers. Legora’s European roots give it inherent advantages in understanding local regulatory frameworks, data privacy requirements under GDPR, and the nuanced differences between continental legal systems.

Differentiation Through Collaboration and Memory

Weinberg argues that Harvey’s competitive moat lies in specific product features that competitors will struggle to replicate. “You have to build things you think they can’t,” he explains, highlighting two key differentiators. First, Harvey’s platform emphasizes collaborative and multiplayer functionality, making it easy for lawyers and their clients to work simultaneously on shared documents—a capability Weinberg describes as “pretty defensible over time.”

Second, Harvey’s memory function allows the platform to remember clients’ previous requests and personal style preferences, understanding which documents carry greater importance than others. The company also plans to increasingly incorporate clients’ institutional knowledge into its platform, enabling firms to leverage their historical expertise alongside AI capabilities.

These features address a fundamental challenge in legal AI: building tools that augment rather than replace human judgment. As technology continues to transform European industries across sectors, the legal sector faces particular resistance due to concerns about accuracy, liability, and the preservation of professional judgment.

The Acquisition Strategy

Harvey is keeping its options open for inorganic growth. Weinberg acknowledges the company is “always actively looking” at potential acquisitions, noting that “you can’t build everything.” Sensible targets could include specialized point solutions—such as patent law tools—that would expand Harvey’s capabilities without requiring years of internal development.

In April 2024, Harvey acquired Mirage, a San Francisco-based startup, signaling its willingness to pursue strategic M&A. With over $1 billion raised across nine funding rounds, Harvey has the capital firepower to pursue aggressive acquisitions as it scales globally. This approach aligns with broader consolidation trends across European business sectors, where market leaders are using M&A to accelerate growth and eliminate competition.

The Biggest Risk: Scaling People, Not Technology

Ironically, Weinberg doesn’t view Legora or Big Tech as Harvey’s primary threats. “The biggest risk to startups” isn’t competitive dynamics, he argues—it’s internal execution. “Are you hiring the right people, are you promoting the right people, are you letting the right people go?”

One challenge specific to legaltech involves cultural transformation. “Lawyers aren’t used to that mentality,” says Weinberg, himself a former securities and antitrust litigator. “In a fast-paced environment you’re going to make mistakes, and that’s OK.” Teaching perfectionist lawyers to embrace startup velocity represents a unique human capital challenge as Harvey scales its European operations.

The company plans to hire 180 people across Europe in 2026, a massive expansion that will test its ability to maintain culture and execution quality across multiple jurisdictions and legal traditions.

The Verdict

Harvey’s European expansion represents a critical test of whether American legal AI platforms can successfully transplant to markets with different regulatory frameworks, legal traditions, and competitive landscapes. The company’s $8 billion valuation and $190 million ARR demonstrate product-market fit in the United States, but European success is far from guaranteed.

Legora’s rapid ascent shows that European legal AI startups can compete effectively with Silicon Valley rivals when they understand local market dynamics and build strong relationships with continental law firms. As European markets continue to evolve and adapt, the Harvey-Legora battle will likely define which AI legal platforms dominate the continent for years to come.

For now, Weinberg’s frequent trips to London signal his commitment to winning Europe. Whether that determination translates into market leadership remains the legaltech industry’s most compelling question for 2026.