Legal Tech Startup Orbital Witness Raises £3.3M To Improve Risk Rating Process For Real Estate

By Mirianna la Grasta | @mirilagrasta

London-based legal tech startup Orbital Witness has just closed a £3.3 million funding round to create a universal risk rating process for real estate. The latest seed funding investment brings the company’s total funding to a total of £4.5 million, and it was led by LocalGlobe and Outward VC, alongside previous investors like Seedcamp and JLL Spark.

Orbital Witness will use the investment to develop an AI-powered software that could transform the £4 billion-worth UK property due diligence market. The universal risk rating software for land and property works similarly to a credit check and is designed to provide a high-level view of property risk for all parties.

By using machine learning technology and reinforcement learning techniques, the startup hopes to mirror the process a lawyer goes through when collecting and checking property information.

“With this new funding, we’re able to accelerate towards our vision of a universal risk rating, similar to a credit check, that provides an early warning system for property professionals,” said Orbital Witness CEO Edmond Boulle. The company’s mission is to create a world where real estate and property issues are no longer hidden behind mounds of deeds and documents.

“Our goal is to simplify the complexities of the current process and bring greater transparency to the world’s largest asset class,” added Boulle.

Since being founded in 2017, by Edmond Boulle, Francesco Liucci and William Pearce, Orbital Witness has developed a thorough understanding of real estate and property risk in the UK, and is now looking to use that knowledge across commercial real estate properties too. Headquartered in London, the startup currently employs fifteen people and is looking to grow and double its team with product-developers, technology and data science experts, marketing and customer service specialists.

Orbital Witness acquired its first client in 2018 and is now working with a number of large law firms, including four out of five Magic Circle law firms.