Keith secures £2m seed to cut conveyancing times with AI agents
This article covers Keith, a legaltech startup that has raised £2m in a seed funding round led by Backed VC to build an AI-first regulated law firm that initially targets conveyancing. The development aims to automate routine conveyancing work and provide 24/7 client support to reduce delays and failed property transactions, affecting home buyers, sellers, conveyancers and estate agents.
Keith, a legaltech startup, has raised £2 million in a seed funding round led by Backed VC to build an AI-first regulated law firm that initially targets conveyancing. The raise matters because the team says its AI agents and 24/7 client helpline could cut transaction times and tackle a property market problem that sees more than 530,000 UK transactions fall through each year.
Why it matters
Conveyancing is widely seen as slow, opaque and prone to delay, with large numbers of property sales collapsing or stalling. Keith is pitching automation and continuous client support as a way to reduce risk and stress for buyers and sellers. The UK legal market is estimated at £54 billion and remains fragmented, creating scope for new entrants that can combine legal compliance with faster, customer-facing workflows.
If Keith delivers on its targets — automating up to 80% of routine legal work and cutting transaction times by about 70% — it could materially alter how parts of the legal process are delivered and priced. That would be relevant not only to clients but to conveyancers and estate agents who rely on predictable timetables.
Inside the product
Keith says it is building a regulated law firm with AI at its core. The product architecture centres on a network of specialised AI agents that handle document review, drafting, communications and workflow management. Human lawyers remain in the loop for oversight and to manage exceptions, while the technology runs continuous operations and client-facing updates.
The firm is focusing on conveyancing first, with plans to broaden into other practice areas after launch. Client-facing features include a 24/7 helpline available by phone and WhatsApp intended to provide instant updates, answer questions and in some cases take actions without the typical delays of business-hours communication.
Founders aim to launch in Q3 2026. The team highlights regulatory compliance as a core design requirement: the firm will operate within controlled legal frameworks rather than presenting AI as a standalone substitute for lawyers.
Who are the investors?
The £2 million seed round was led by Backed VC, with participation from Breega and several angel investors. The funding will be used to develop the regulated firm, expand the product and prepare for market entry in conveyancing.
In the announcement, Andre De Haes, Partner at Backed VC, said:
For most people, dealing with a solicitor means waiting, chasing and not knowing what’s going on. Keith removed those pain-points using technology, and we’re hugely excited to back the business.
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Founder perspective
Keith was founded by Andy Shovel and Pete Sharman, alongside Sam Tucker who oversees product. Shovel and Sharman previously founded the plant-based food brand THIS; Tucker previously started hybrid scheduling platform Common Surface. Eddie Goldsmith, former chairman of the UK Conveyancing Association and founder of a conveyancing firm in the 1990s, is a strategic adviser and non-executive director.
In the announcement, Andy Shovel, Co-founder at Keith, said:
I tried to buy a house around a year ago and had a monumental shocker. Sleepless nights, hounding solicitors and a dodgy seller - the full works. I was blown away by how clunky the process was, and how no technology was being incorporated to help. Legal services haven’t yet been transformed by tech, but it’s coming. And when it does, it won’t look like a traditional law firm with software bolted on - we think it will look like Keith.
The founders position the product as a reimagining of a law firm rather than a tech layer on top of existing practice models, emphasising continuous service, clearer timelines and automation of repetitive tasks.
The bigger picture
Keith’s raise sits within a broader wave of legaltech activity that aims to digitise routine legal workflows and improve customer experience. The strategy of combining regulated legal practice with AI-driven automation tests how startups balance innovation with compliance in a tightly regulated sector.
The deal also reflects growing interest from UK legaltech investors in automation and customer-facing workflow tools that can address persistent frictions in property transactions.
This funding round underscores how AI-driven models are moving from experimental tools to propositions that aim to replace substantial slices of manual work across UK professional services. The outcome will depend on regulatory sign-off, the quality of human oversight, and how quickly the product can scale in a fragmented market.
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