# Where Legal Tech Money Went in 2026, Category by Category > Generative AI drafting tools took 74% of 2026 legal tech funding, almost all of it Harvey and Legora. Litigation and intake tools grew fastest below them. By The Circle Desk | Market Signals | Published 2026-10-24 | Updated 2026-10-25 Source: https://legaltechcircle.com/insights/legal-tech-funding-by-category-2026/ Generative AI drafting and review tools took $2.17 billion of the $2.94 billion raised by legal tech companies from January 1 to October 25, 2026, or 74.0%, according to the [Legal Tech Circle funding tracker](https://legaltechcircle.com/market-signals/funding-tracker/). That is up from 49.1% across all of 2025. But almost all of the category's money went to two companies, and the categories growing fastest below them were litigation tools and in-house intake tools. ## Which Legal Tech Category Raised the Most in 2026? Generative AI drafting and review, by a wide margin. The category raised $2,175 million across 14 rounds. Legora's three rounds ($1.15 billion) and Harvey's three ($800 million) make up $1.95 billion of that, or 89.7% of the category. The rest came from Wordsmith's $70 million Series B and $14 million extension, Orbital's $60 million Series B for real estate legal work, Ivo's $55 million Series B, reported by [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/technology/legal-ai-startup-ivo-raises-55-million-latest-funding-round-2026-01-20/), Newcode's two rounds totaling $20 million and two smaller rounds. Without Harvey and Legora, the generative AI category raised $224.7 million in 2026 across eight rounds. ## Which Categories Are Growing? Litigation and eDiscovery raised $181.5 million across 10 rounds in 2026, against $68.8 million across 10 rounds in all of 2025. The largest check was Enter's [$100 million Series B](https://www.gunder.com/en/news-insights/client-news/founders-fund-leads-dollar100-million-series-b-for-enter-latin-americas-first-unicorn) in Brazil, followed by Steno's $49 million Series C, reported by [Legaltech News](https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2026/03/26/court-reporting-services-provider-steno-amasses-49m-in-series-c-funding/). Even without Enter, the category's $81.5 million already beats its 2025 total. It also had the most early stage activity of any category, with eight seed and pre-seed rounds, including Parambil, Skribe, Advocacy, Mary Technology, Crimson, Turbo Law, Discernis and Concorda. Intake and self service tools are the other riser. They raised $81.3 million in five rounds in 2026, against $8.5 million in two rounds in all of 2025. Sandstone raised a $10 million seed in January and a [$30 million Series A](https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/09/sandstone-raises-30m-to-bring-ai-to-in-house-legal-teams/) in June, Checkbox raised a $23 million Series A in Australia and JUPUS raised a $15.1 million Series A in Germany. Compliance and risk tools raised $120 million, all from Norm Ai's [Series C](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/ai-legal-startup-norm-valued-at-1-2-billion-in-funding-round) in July, against $66.5 million across five rounds in 2025. ## Which Categories Fell Back? Practice and matter management is the clearest drop. It raised $1,093.6 million in 2025, driven by Clio's $500 million Series G and Filevine's $400 million raise. In 2026 so far it has raised $55.0 million across six smaller rounds, including PointOne's $16 million Series A and Jusfy's $15 million Series A. That is less a collapse than the absence of one or two giant checks. Clio has no 2026 equity round in our data, and in September it [bought Learned Hand](https://www.lawnext.com/2026/09/clio-acquires-learned-hand-giving-its-new-judiciary-business-an-existing-product.html) instead. Contract management raised $94.0 million in 2026, led by Summize's $50 million round and Chamelio's two rounds, against $329.5 million in 2025. Intellectual property raised $103.3 million in six rounds, led by Patlytics's [$40 million Series B](https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2026/04/08/patlytics-secures-40m-in-series-b-funding-with-contribution-from-relativity/), down from $163.5 million in 10 rounds in 2025. Legal research raised $79.6 million, mostly Lexroom's $50 million Series B in Italy, against $215.6 million in 2025. **How we counted.** Every round in the tracker carries one of our 11 category slugs, assigned by what the product does for legal teams. A script sums equity rounds by category for January 1 to October 25, 2026, and for all of 2025, from the tracker's CSV download pulled October 25. Debt, acquisitions and majority stake deals are excluded. One 2026 round, FirmPilot's $22 million Series A-1 for law firm marketing, fits none of the 11 categories and is left uncategorized but counted in the total. **Partly Real.** The headline that generative AI ate legal tech funding in 2026 is true in dollars and misleading in substance, because two companies account for about 90% of the category. Outside those two, the money is spreading toward specialists in litigation, compliance and in-house intake, and that is where many new companies are being funded. ## Common Questions **Which legal tech category raised the most in 2026?** Generative AI drafting and review tools, with $2.17 billion across 14 rounds through October 25, per the [Legal Tech Circle funding tracker](https://legaltechcircle.com/market-signals/funding-tracker/). **How much of that went to Harvey and Legora?** $1.95 billion, or about 90% of the category. **Which category grew fastest?** Intake and self service tools, from $8.5 million in 2025 to $81.3 million in 2026 so far. Litigation and eDiscovery also more than doubled, from $68.8 million to $181.5 million. **Are categories assigned by the company?** No. Legal Tech Circle assigns one category per round based on what the product does. *Updated Oct 25, 2026 with corrected tracker data: generative AI's share is 74.0%, and intellectual property is no longer listed as a growing category.* --- Legal Tech Circle (https://legaltechcircle.com/). News and analysis, not legal advice.