UAE LegalTech Startup Qanooni Raises $2 Million in Pre-Seed Round
With backing from global and regional investors, Qanooni plans to expand its AI-powered legal platform across the UAE and UK.
Qanooni, a UAE-based legal technology startup, has secured $2 million in a pre-seed investment round led by Village Global, Salica Investments’ Oryx Fund, TA Ventures, and a group of strategic angel investors. The funding will support Qanooni’s expansion across the UAE and the UK, and further development of its proprietary AI systems designed to streamline legal workflows.
Founded by Anuscha Iqbal, Ziyaad Ahmed, and Karim Shiyab, Qanooni is building an AI-powered platform that integrates directly with the tools most commonly used by legal professionals, including Microsoft Outlook and Word. The platform allows lawyers to prepare and review documents with greater speed and accuracy, while adapting to individual tone, style, and formatting preferences. It also connects with existing document management systems, eliminating the need for additional standalone software.
The investment comes amid growing interest in LegalTech across the UAE, where regulatory reforms and digitisation initiatives have opened new space for innovation in the legal sector. Over the past two years, the country has seen a steady rise in LegalTech startups offering services such as automated contract review and AI-assisted compliance tools. Accelerators and regulatory sandboxes supported by bodies like the DIFC Innovation Hub and Abu Dhabi Global Market have provided early-stage support, while law firms and corporate legal departments have shown increasing willingness to adopt technologies that enhance efficiency and reduce overhead.
According to Grand View Research, the UAE legal technology market generated US $114.5 million in 2023 and is forecast to reach $234.4 million by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8%.
