In 2020, Xayn was a privacy-based, on-device AI startup focused on smartphones. However, the company’s initial direction has evolved, leading to a complete pivot into developing sovereign AI for the legal sector. Now rebranded as Noxtua, the company has secured $92.2 million (approximately €81.2 million) in a Series B round, marking a significant milestone in its journey to revolutionize the legal field with artificial intelligence.
Strategic Investment and New Partnerships
The Series B funding round was led by C.H. Beck, Germany’s leading legal publisher and a key player in the legal sector. C.H. Beck controls the repository of all legal cases and judgments in Germany, providing Noxtua with unprecedented access to its extensive archive and legal news wire. This partnership will fuel the development of Noxtua’s new legal AI product, Beck-Noxtua.
Additional investors include Northern Data Group, a specialist in high-performance computing, CMS, Germany’s largest business law firm, and the global law firm Dentons. Previous investors such as Global Brain, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, and Dominik Schiener also participated in the funding round.
A crucial element of this partnership is the collaboration with Northern Data, whose cloud infrastructure will host Beck-Noxtua in Germany. This setup ensures that the AI operates as a sovereign AI, fully compliant with German laws and regulations — an essential factor given the growing concern over geopolitical implications of hosting sensitive data on U.S.-based servers.
Precision Legal AI for the European Market
Noxtua’s AI platform is designed to address a critical need in the legal sector. The technology is capable of researching legal matters, analyzing complex documents, and drafting legal texts in a manner that ensures legal compliance for its customers, particularly those in Germany. The legal compliance bar in Germany is notably high, and C.H. Beck’s legal database, which comprises 55 million documents, is crucial for training the AI to deliver the highest level of accuracy and relevance.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Dr. Leif-Nissen Lundbæk, CEO and co-founder of Noxtua, explained that Noxtua’s version of a transformer AI model is tailored specifically to legal contracts. This specialized approach is essential because U.S.-based models — which rely on American and partially U.K. data — do not offer the precision required in countries like Germany and France. These models, while effective in English-speaking jurisdictions, are not well-suited to the nuanced legal frameworks of non-English-speaking countries, particularly in Europe.
“This is very different in countries like Germany or France,” Lundbæk noted. “These models really fail in precision. Plus, government services are essentially legal, right? So you cannot just use an American AI model in a German legal context.”
Noxtua’s technology was developed through extensive research conducted by the company’s founders at Oxford University and Imperial College London, later refined in collaboration with CMS. The product’s focus on sovereign AI ensures that it meets the specific needs of European legal systems while maintaining a high level of data protection and privacy, which are essential in the legal context.
A Vision for the Future of Legal AI
The collaboration between Noxtua and C.H. Beck is more than just a business partnership; it represents a shared vision for the future of sovereign AI in the European legal landscape. In a statement, Professor Klaus Weber, a member of the executive board at C.H. Beck, praised Noxtua’s innovative approach: “Noxtua’s vision of a sovereign European legal AI aligns hand in hand with our values … Noxtua is a cornerstone of our innovation strategy.”
This investment and strategic direction place Noxtua at the forefront of the legal AI revolution, positioning the company to serve as a key player in shaping the future of legal technology in Europe and beyond.
Conclusion
With its rebrand to Noxtua and the successful closure of a $92.2 million Series B funding round, the company is poised to make significant strides in the legal AI space. By focusing on sovereign AI that adheres to strict European legal standards, Noxtua is on track to set new industry benchmarks for precision, compliance, and efficiency in legal processes. As the company continues to grow, it will no doubt play a pivotal role in the future of the legal sector.
