French legaltech startup Call A Lawyer, a mobile app that instantly connects users with lawyers, has announced the closing of its first financing round of €500k. The funding will be used to commercialise Call A Lawyer’s B2B offering for entrepreneurs, small businesses, startups, and artisans.
Call A Lawyer was founded in 2016 by a practicing lawyer, and is France’s first mobile app that immediately connects users to a lawyer for an initial telephone consultation of 20 minutes. The app allows private individuals, and now businesses, to connect with a network of over 500 lawyers from all over France in every area of legal expertise.
Since launching on February 1 2019 for businesses, the startup offers two categories of subscriptions, based on the needs of companies. Call A Lawyer has chosen to focus its development on professional clients, such as SMEs, a market that represents some 4 million firms in France. Over 90% of these do not have counsel in-house or on retainer, despite regularly facing legal challenges.
Call A Lawyer’s subscriptions will permit these smaller entities to access legal advice suited to their immediate needs in every domain of law, provided by relevant and carefully selected lawyers, all in a few clicks.
“Like most professions and sectors in the last few years, the legal field, and more specifically lawyering, is in the midst of a transformation,” explained Mathieu Davy, co-founder of Call A Lawyer. “We realised how difficult it can be for private individuals and professionals to obtain legal advice and find the right lawyer. This round of fundraising will allow us to focus on very small and small businesses, helping them make the right matches with lawyers to ensure they are receiving the best advice and assistance for their needs.”
In 2019, Call A Lawyer aims to develop its services abroad, particularly in francophone countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, a mature market offering real opportunity. Partnership negotiations are also underway in Belgium, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal.
“Taking Call A Lawyer abroad is our challenge for 2019! We are confident in our business model and in our ability to replicate it all over the world,” added Davy. “The negotiations underway show great promise. We have perfectly identified the needs of individuals and businesses for this type of service. Our goal is to launch in two countries per year.”