Harvey: Rethinking Legal Intelligence

Harvey was founded in 2021 out of a real frustration with the repetitive and time-consuming nature of much legal work. Co-founders Winston Weinberg and Gabe Pereyra — who came together after seeing lawyers bogged down in tasks like contract review and discovery — believed there had to be a better way. By early 2022, their conviction turned into action, and Harvey was launched to reimagine legal workflows with AI that actually made life easier.

Powering the First Leap

The company’s earliest investment came from the OpenAI Startup Fund. Backers were drawn in because they understood how the founders’ close connection to the problem made their approach different.

Bridging Real Needs with AI

Harvey’s growth focused on small, practical steps: working directly with lawyers, testing prototypes in real-world scenarios, and responding to feedback. The buy-in from investors and, later, from clients reflected that Harvey’s solutions were grounded in actual legal workflows — practical, not hypothetical.

Milestones That Matter

• 2021: Harvey is founded

• 2022: Secures seed funding and builds first prototypes with law firms

• 2023: Raises $23M Series A to expand reach

• Late 2023: $80M Series B brings Harvey into major global firms

• 2025: Harvey becomes established as a key player in legal tech, expanding into compliance and tax
  

Shaping Tomorrow’s Legal Practice

Looking ahead, Harvey is expanding its platform beyond law to areas like tax and compliance, offering more customizable AI tools and aiming to become a central part of how professionals handle complex, document-heavy work across multiple industries.

Investor Spotlight:

Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, OpenAI Startup Fund

The path to Harvey’s growth has been shaped by several investors who supported the company at different stages.

Sequoia Capital Sequoia invested in Harvey during its scaling phase, bringing experience from funding other enterprise technology companies. Their involvement helped signal confidence in Harvey’s ability to grow into a larger market.

Kleiner Perkins Kleiner Perkins became involved as Harvey developed beyond its early prototypes. The firm’s history of backing technology companies added to Harvey’s credibility and provided a broader network of connections.

OpenAI Startup Fun Harvey’s first funding came from the OpenAI Startup Fund, which provided the early capital needed to launch prototypes and test products with law firms. This initial support connected Harvey with a wider AI research community.

TL:DR

What problem was Harvey originally built to solve?

Harvey was originally built to solve the repetitive and time-consuming nature of much legal work, particularly tasks like contract review and discovery. The founders, Winston Weinberg and Gabe Pereyra, were frustrated by how lawyers were bogged down by these tasks and believed AI could make legal workflows more efficient.

Who supported it in its earliest funding stages and when did it begin to gain traction?

In its earliest funding stages, Harvey received support from the OpenAI Startup Fund, which provided the initial capital to help the company launch prototypes and test products with law firms. It began to gain traction in early 2022, when the company started building prototypes and securing interest from law firms.

When did Harvey begin to gain traction?

Harvey began to gain traction in early 2022, when it launched and began testing prototypes in real-world legal scenarios, responding to feedback, and securing early buy-in from investors and clients who appreciated its practical, real-world approach to solving legal challenges.