Orbital raises USD $60m to scale AI for real estate law

Orbital has raised USD $60 million in Series B funding as it scales its artificial intelligence software for real estate legal work and expands further in the US.

The round was led by Brighton Park Capital. Orbital said it plans to double headcount this year after opening a New York office in 2025. The company also said it expects to establish additional US hubs.

Orbital sells an AI platform used in property due diligence. The company said the software replaces manual review of documents used in real estate transactions. It said the platform is now used on more than 200,000 property transactions annually across the US and UK.

The company counts AM Law 100 firms among its customers. It named Vinson & Elkins, BCLP and Goodwin. Orbital also said its products are used by in-house legal teams, property managers, title companies and Real Estate Investment Trusts.

Investor mix

Orbital said new investors in the round included REV, the venture capital arm of RELX, The LegalTech Fund, Moderne Ventures and Grosvenor. Grosvenor is also an Orbital customer, according to the company.

Existing investors JLL Spark, Outward and Seedcamp also participated, Orbital said. The company said it has raised USD $75 million in total funding to date.

The deal reflects growing interest in AI tools focused on specific practice areas inside law and real estate. Orbital describes real estate legal work as complex and fragmented. It positions its product as specialised for that workflow, rather than a general legal AI system.

Orbital said its platform combines AI for real estate law with spatial visualisation, mapping and real estate data. It said real estate transactions can require review across multiple records, maps and historic deeds.

Market backdrop

A recent Morgan Stanley study estimates that AI could automate about 37% of tasks across the commercial real estate sector. The study also estimated potential efficiency gains of up to USD $34 billion by 2030.

Orbital also framed its expansion plans around a "$140bn opportunity" in real estate. It did not provide detail on how it calculated that figure.

The company said it holds a leading position in the UK market for AI in real estate law. It said the new funding will fund growth in both the US and UK and expand adoption among participants in the real estate transaction process.

Orbital was co-founded by Will Pearce and Ed Boulle in 2018. It has offices in New York and London.

The company said it supports more than 5,000 property professionals across law firms and corporate organisations. It also said it works across residential and commercial real estate transactions.

"Real estate is, by far, the world's largest asset class. Yet the legal work that underpins it remains slow, fragmented and largely manual: opaque work that in many cases hasn't meaningfully changed since the 19th century. Orbital is changing that with AI purpose-built for real estate, making transactions more transparent and reliable for all parties. This funding round brings together investors and operators who understand these challenges firsthand and share our conviction that the real estate legal category is ready for transformation. With their support, we're accelerating our US expansion and extending Orbital's potential across the full real estate transaction lifecycle - fundamentally improving how work gets done for the professionals who operate within it, and for everyone who derives value from real estate," said Will Pearce, CEO And Co-Founder, Orbital.

Brighton Park Capital Partner Kevin Magan will join Orbital's board, the company said.

"We recognized immediately that Orbital is targeting a critical gap in the legal AI sector. Real estate law is one of the most complex legal markets globally, yet it has remained dramatically under-automated. Orbital's focus on accuracy, real estate domain expertise, and real-world workflows positions them to define a new category in legal automation. We are incredibly excited to partner with Orbital in this next stage of growth as they expand more aggressively into the US market," said Magan.

Orbital said it will invest in product development as it builds what it described as a single secure workspace for real estate legal work across the lifecycle of a property asset. It said it expects to expand further across law firms and into the wider real estate ecosystem.