On April 30th, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas announced the successful conclusion of Cohort I of Prarambh, India’s first LegalTech incubator. Started in October 2019, and housed in the Firm’s Delhi office, Prarambh had mentored 3 LegalTech startups namely JRTC Intern, Leegality, and LegalMind for developing meaningful LegalTech solutions that have already started finding widespread acceptance amongst legal professionals.
Talking about first term’s success, Mr. Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said, “In keeping with our spirit of being Ahead of the Curve, we set up Prarambh in line with our passion for innovation, as also to help equip the Indian legal professionals with technology solutions that meet India’s unique requirements. The keen interest in LegalTech solutions developed at Prarambh is really heartening and speaks volumes about the potential impact Prarambh is set to make on the Indian legal sector. I really wish to congratulate all our Partners and teams involved in Cohort I, who worked very hard to enable the startups and mentored them to realize their full potential.”
Mr. Cyril Shroff further added, “COVID has disrupted the normal functioning of both law firms and our clients. The demand and uptake of technology has accelerated. These are redefining the dynamics between all these stakeholders, and necessitating the need for across the board implementation of technology. We feel the outstanding success of Prarambh’s Cohort I will set the benchmark on development of India centric LegalTech solutions. I wish all our incubatee companies all the best.”
Prarambh selected three technology startups for its first cohort from a pool of 51 applicants, after a rigorous assessment of the applications against 12 defined parameters. The cohort was then mentored by CAM Partners, leading international experts and the Innovation Team, who guided the startups to develop pioneering and innovating solutions that are especially developed to comply with Indian laws, and focuses on deploying latest technology including Artificial Intelligence etc. in a way that aligned with the unique needs of the legal industry. These startups worked on a diverse range of products including internship management, workflow for eStamping and eSignature, and AI based legal research and data analytics. CAM Associates were also involved regularly in guiding and giving feedback to the cohort. Simultaneously, the cohort also enhanced its business skills with sessions from industry experts on marketing and branding, legal and regulatory compliance, customer feedback and satisfaction, financial planning and preparing for investments.
Mr. Rishabh Shroff, Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, said, “It is very timely that we started the Prarambh program. The legal tech sector in India was still at a fledgling stage, but now given the impact of the Corona Virus, I foresee that all our clients and in-house teams will need more LegalTech solutions. The normal lawyer-client relationship will be disaggregated and digitized and our Prarambh program will help such legal tech solutions emerge. Looking back to when we started, I can say that it has been a humbling and proud moment for us because of the success Prarambh’s first term has been fantastic.”
Talking about Prarambh, Ms. Komal Gupta, Head – Innovation, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said, “We embarked on a journey of Innovation with 3 unique startups, 7 months ago. Each startup had a different path to take but the goal was the same – Success and Growth. The happiest and most satisfying memories of our work with our incubatee companies were the collaborative atmosphere and sitting alongside them and helping them from one stage to the next. The knowledge sharing and collaboration through the Prarambh Program was the highlight of this journey. The startups interacted with stellar speakers and mentors, each of them a specialist in their field. During the journey, we also were faced with a number of challenges, but we traversed the challenges, found a workaround, learnt from various situations, took corrective actions and made the next day better. We are sure that these startups are set to achieve the extraordinary and will lead the LegalTech space in India. We wish them all the best.”
