A New York–based legaltech startup is taking direct aim at the traditional law firm model—not by selling software to lawyers, but by rebuilding the firm itself around AI.
Manifest OS announced this week that it has raised USD $60 million in Series A funding at a USD $750 million valuation, in what is being described as the largest Series A in legal technology to date. The round was led by Menlo Ventures with participation from Kleiner Perkins, First Round Capital, and Quiet Capital.
Rather than positioning itself as another AI tool for lawyers, Manifest OS is developing what it calls the world’s first “AI-native law firm model.” The company partners with attorneys to launch new firms built from the ground up on its platform, combining software, operations, and branding into a single system.
At the core of the model is a unified AI platform that handles everything from legal research and document drafting to client communication, billing, and reporting. Human-supervised AI agents are embedded directly into workflows, with the goal of eliminating much of the administrative burden that consumes lawyers’ time today.
Manifest OS also operates a centralized back-office layer, taking on functions such as client intake, business development, and collections. This allows lawyers within its network to focus primarily on legal work and client advocacy, rather than firm operations.
The company’s approach extends to pricing. Instead of the billable hour, Manifest-powered firms are structured around fixed-fee and outcomes-based models, aligning incentives toward efficiency and results.
The strategy reflects a broader shift emerging in legaltech: moving beyond augmenting existing firms to rethinking how legal services are delivered altogether. Manifest OS is betting that AI-native firms—designed from inception around automation and standardized workflows—can outperform legacy structures constrained by hourly billing and fragmented systems.
So far, the model is gaining traction. The company says its first AI-powered law firm has shown strong growth within its first 18 months, and it is initially focused on areas like immigration law, with plans to expand into additional practice areas such as tax.
For a sector long defined by tradition, Manifest OS represents a more radical proposition: that the future of legal services may not be better tools for lawyers—but entirely new kinds of law firms.