Steno, the LA-based provider of tech-led litigation support services, today (23 May) announces the close of a $15M Series B funding round, led by Left Lane Capital. As part of its Series B fundraise, Steno also announces a strategic investment from Clio
Ventures, the direct investment arm of legal technology vendor Clio. The companies anticipate launching an integration later this year.
The company has raised a total of $38.5M, including a Series A round completed in fall 2020 led by Trust Ventures.
Greg Hong, Dylan Ruga, and Dan Anderson co-founded Steno in 2018 with a mission to
revolutionize the legal support service industry by rebuilding the traditional court reporting agency model. Steno’s flagship product, DelayPay, enables law firms to defer service costs until their case resolves, solving a long-standing cash flow problem for lawyers.
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Ruga, a law firm owner himself, said: “As a plaintiff attorney, I found myself in a spot where all of my working capital was tied up in case costs. I couldn’t grow my business, there were no court reporting agencies that would
defer costs until my cases settled, and securing litigation financing was resource-draining for my staff. I called Greg and Dan with the idea, and Steno took shape.”
Hong added: “We realized there was a real solution here to meaningfully improve the way lawyers can operate their firms by offering highly-reliable services underpinned by purpose-built technology and a financing layer. It was a massive opportunity to build a best-in-class service layer in this $17B traditionally-analog market.”
With regard to Clio’s involvement, Hong said: “Building an integration within Clio’s legal practice management platform enables shared customers to access all of their case activities in real time, removing common administrative hurdles and freeing up valuable time for their clients.”
Steno built its momentum in light of the pandemic, which catalyzed an industry-wide
reckoning of its relationship to technology for legal proceedings. From 20 employees to
over 100 in under a year, the company launched Steno Connect, the purpose-built video conferencing platform. It has since expanded its offering to a suite of products for law firms and court reporters.
“Steno has found phenomenal product-market fit with its online legal services
marketplace and DelayPay product” said Jason Fiedler, Managing Partner at Left Lane
Capital. “They are enabling law firms to take on more volume with greater efficiency, and the business is more than doubling market share year over year as a result.”
In the past year, Steno launched its rapidly-growing concierge e-filing and service of
process, a natural extension of the essential services law firms need on deferred-payment terms.
The Series B funding will allow Steno to continue growing its footprint in new markets
across the country, develop adjacent service channels for its clients, and expand its tech
team to pursue a mission of transforming the way legal support services are consumed.