Who owns whom in legal AI in 2026
Independence is a state that can change, and in this market it has been changing quickly. Several tools we cover are now inside larger companies, which alters who sets the roadmap, how renewal is handled, and what happens to customers who do not use the parent's other products.
This page exists because none of that appears in a feature comparison, and all of it matters on a three-year commitment.
Acquisitions affecting tools on this site
| Tool | Now owned by | Reported consideration | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evisort | Workday | $311m, reported | Acquisition confirmed in Workday's FY2025 Form 10-K; the figure and October 2024 close are from secondary reporting |
| Lexion | DocuSign | $165m, reported | Announced 6 May 2024, completed 31 May 2024; confirmed on DocuSign's newsroom and in its Form 10-Q |
| vLex (vLex Vincent) | Clio | ~$1bn, reported | Widely reported; we could not confirm the figure in a primary filing |
| SimpleLegal | Onit | Not disclosed | Sold under Onit; both now appear in Onit's product line |
| HotDocs | Mitratech | Not disclosed | Sold as a Mitratech product |
| IPfolio | Clarivate | Not disclosed | Sold through Clarivate sales as Clarivate IPfolio |
Where a figure is marked reported, we could not confirm it in a filing or vendor statement and have said so rather than presenting it as established. The Workday and DocuSign acquisitions themselves are confirmed in company filings; the amounts attached to them are not, in the documents we could reach.
Which tools remain independent
Of the vendors we cover, LinkSquares, Ironclad, Icertis, Juro, SpotDraft, Contractbook, Spellbook, LegalOn, Luminance, Robin AI, Harvey and GenieAI were independently owned when we last checked in September 2026. Independence is worth something on a long commitment, and it is a state that can change without notice, so treat this as a snapshot rather than a property.
Reported funding, and why it is on this page
Funding is not a quality signal and we do not score on it. It appears here because it predicts two things a buyer feels: how hard a vendor will push on price, and how likely the product is to still exist in its current form at renewal.
| Vendor | Reported raise or valuation | As reported |
|---|---|---|
| Harvey | ~$200m raised at a reported $11bn valuation | March 2026 |
| Legora | ~$600m Series D at a reported $5.6bn valuation | 2026 |
| Luminance | $75m Series C, $115m+ total | February 2025 |
| Spellbook | $50m Series B at a reported $350m valuation, $80m+ total | October 2025 |
| Robin AI | $25m Series B extension, ~$71.7m total | November 2024 |
Every figure in this table is from secondary reporting rather than a filing, and none of it is audited. Read it as an ordering rather than as numbers.
What to ask when your vendor has a parent
- Who owns the roadmap now, and does the product still get built for customers who do not use the parent's other software? This is the question behind all the others.
- How is renewal handled? Acquired products are frequently moved onto the parent's commercial terms, and the terms you signed may not be the terms you renew on.
- Is the product still sold standalone, or only as part of a suite? Ask for that in writing, because the answer sometimes changes a year after close.
- Who is our account contact after close, and is the team that built it still on it?
- What is our exit position: data format, cost and timescale. This matters most precisely when ownership is uncertain, and it has no leverage after signature.
- If you are deliberately avoiding vendor concentration, check the parent as well as the tool. Buying Evisort now means a Workday relationship, and buying Lexion means a DocuSign one.
What this pattern means for a buyer
The acquired tools here were mostly bought for their document intelligence rather than their customer base, which is why they keep operating and why their roadmaps shift toward the parent's platform rather than stopping. That is a slower and less visible change than a shutdown, and harder to plan around.
The practical consequence is that ownership belongs in the evaluation rather than the news section. A tool whose parent sells a competing suite is a different purchase from an independent one at the same price, and the difference shows up at renewal rather than in the demo.
Method
Acquisitions are confirmed against company filings and vendor newsrooms where we could reach them, and labelled as reported where we could not. Funding figures are all secondary. Ownership was last checked in September 2026 and this page carries that date because the answer changes: two of the six acquisitions above happened within eighteen months of each other.