LegalPay launches Justice and Inclusion Fund to boost legaltech ecosystem

With the objective of promoting justice, entrepreneurship and legal innovation, Delhi NCR-based legal and insolvency financier LegalPay has launched the country's first-of-its-kind equity fund, called the Justice and Inclusion (JAI) Fund. .The approximately US$2 million fund will invest in emerging legaltech companies and startups working towards financial inclusion to promote robust technology development in the current legal framework and speed up legal processes through innovative legal products and solutions..The investment committee at LegalPay is chaired by well-known entrepreneur-turned-investor and global philanthropist Ashwini Kakkar to enable an impartial funding mechanism. The committee also comprises Kundan Shahi, Founder and CEO of LegalPay, Kashish Grover, COO of LegalPay, and Ojasvi Babbar, CEO of Amity Incubation Centre..Writing to Bar & Bench on the idea behind instituting the JAI fund, Grover said,"We feel that the massive domestic and international partnerships and capabilities that we have developed over the years while building LegalPay, should benefit the entire ecosystem. Such efforts will help India spearhead the legal innovation globally, similar to how India excelled in the fintech sector."Shining light on the selection process for startups to get assistance from the fund, Grover wrote,"The selection process is very quick, yet robust on our front. Any budding startups having a technology solution/innovation in the legal and socially inclusive sector, can reach out to our team at jaifund@legalpay.in. The team, after having two rounds of conversations, issue the term sheet based on the impact and value such start-up is creating in the ecosystem. We make sure that we respond to each request in less than 12 hours."On the factors that the investment committee will look at while making their selection decision, Grover said,"The fund is vertically focussed on legal and socially inclusive sectors that are creating an impact on the society and Indian judicial system through the use of technology. At LegalPay, we have developed superior technological capabilities using artificial intelligence and rule-based decision algorithms. Our technological innovations are used by some of the largest players globally. We want to promote similar innovations in the sectors by giving back to the legal ecosystem.".Highlighting the struggle of attracting substantial capital for startups that work for the betterment of society, the JAI Fund will invest ₹25-50 lakh each in over 30 start-ups in the next two years, according to a statement by Shahi in a press release. .The fund's anchor lead is a seasoned investor and marquee entrepreneur, Ambarish Gupta, Founder of Basis Vectors and ex-founder of Knowlarity.