MDR Lab has welcomed five entrepreneurs to join the brand new Launch programme, one of the two new offerings announced in October 2020 that support businesses at various stages of maturity; from individuals just getting started with ideas, all the way through to established businesses with proven products in the market.
Launch is a 6-month programme that helps individuals build new ventures in, or adjacent to the legal industry. Run in collaboration with the digital experts at Founders Factory, participants of the programme will follow an immersive learning experience to access the tools, frameworks and support needed to build a backable business. Founders that make it through the mid-way investment committee will receive an initial investment from Mishcon de Reya to support with product development and can also access a further £100,000 of pre-seed funding to help them go-to-market.
The inaugural cohort comprises of a diverse group of people, with an emphasis on founders from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in tech. You can learn more about each of the founders below:
Cristian Gherhes: Cristian is a social scientist with a specific interest in Artificial Intelligence and its impact on next generation professional services. Cristian is looking to mitigate the litigation risk that companies are exposed to through email exchanges.
Jasmine Gavigan: Jasmine has a decade of experience automating processes at law firms as well as e-commerce, where she has worked as a “Guru” at Shopify. Jasmine is looking to use this experience to help law firms re-imagine how their lawyers and legal staff operate and to take on the billable hour.
Co-founders Jeremy Bormann and Chris Thittayil: Jeremy studied Law in the UK and Germany and Chris studied MA, Business and Management in the UK. Both have recently completed an Entrepreneurship programme at CERN. Jeremy and Chris are passionate about optimising pre-trial litigation strategies and preparation.
Mohamed Aboshanab: Mohamed is an international lawyer and serial entrepreneur with over 20 years' experience in the immigration and mobility space. Mohamad is looking to build a next generation travel company and transform the way that travellers apply for and obtain visas around the world.
Sonia Hadjadj: Sonia is a qualified Lawyer with international experience who held positions at both Big Law and in-house at FTSE100 companies and a high growth SaaS startup. Sonia is passionate about the intersection of law, technology and futurism and wants to help legal departments make faster data driven decisions and unlock further value for the business.
“Legaltech is at a pivotal moment and we at MDR Lab want to step up and support the ecosystem. We are seeing the emergence of mission driven founders, entrepreneurs that want to improve how legal services operate, reduce costs and increase access to justice, to those who want decrease lawyer burnout and improve the overall quality of life." Elani Buchan, Venture Programme Manager MDR Lab
“We’re excited to be working together with the great team at the MDR Lab to pool our expertise and to help the next generation of LawTech founders build for a better future.” Nick Le Fevre, Head of Business Development, Founders Factory
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