Chilean legal AI startup Magnar raises $8m Series A to expand in LatAm

Chilean legal AI startup Magnar has raised $8m in a Series A round co-led by early-stage investor 6 Degrees Capital and Mexican startup investor Hi Ventures, with Argentinian law firm Beccar Varela joining the cap table.

The round also drew Latin American technology investor FEN Ventures, Chilean startup financier Platanus Ventures and investment firm Nascent Ventures. That's five investors backing a Santiago-based company founded only last year.

What will the money fund?

Magnar will deploy the capital to grow its presence across Latin America and deepen relationships with the legal departments already using its platform. The company also plans to open two new offices, in Brazil and Mexico.

The market math is large. Magnar says the two countries hold a combined 1.9 million lawyers it could serve, and the company is currently building the legal information sources needed to meet the demands of working in those markets.

Who uses the platform?

Magnar AI is a legal AI platform built for Latin American legal systems. Its capabilities include:

• legal and case research
• case file analysis
• document drafting and review
• integration with everyday tools such as Word and Outlook

Adoption is already substantial for a one-year-old company. Magnar says 350 law firms across the region use the platform, with around 30,000 users in total.

The platform is currently active in seven markets: Chile, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Uruguay.

Who built it, and what did they say?

Andrés Arellano, CEO and co-founder of Magnar AI, co-founded the company last year alongside Andrés Rodríguez Valdés and Nicolás Lopez.

Arellano said: "We started Magnar thinking about the lawyers of this region, with their codes, their languages and their ways of working.

"This round lets us put more people and resources into building a better platform for those already who trust us and into taking that work to more lawyers across Latin America." (Note: the second quote reads in full: "This round lets us put more people and resources into building a better platform for those who already trust us and into taking that work to more lawyers across Latin America.")

The regional framing is the differentiator: Magnar isn't adapting a US-built tool, it's training on Latin American codes, languages and workflows from the ground up.

How does this fit the legaltech funding wave?

Legaltech funding continues to run strong, and Magnar's round sits in good company.

Last week, AI governance intelligence platform AI Score secured $5.4m in seed funding to accelerate its go-to-market strategy. The UK-based startup was co-founded last year by former White & Case associate Benita Tibb, and received funding from early-stage tech investor Fuel Ventures alongside GALLOS Technologies, which incubated the AI firm before it was established.

Before that, Norwegian AI legaltech platform Newcode secured $13.5m in a Series A round led by venture capital firm OnDean Forward, bringing its total capital raised this year to $20m.

Three rounds across three continents in recent weeks, all AI-focused, all early-stage. For Magnar, the $8m and two new offices in Brazil and Mexico mean the next test is whether a platform built for 30,000 users can scale toward a market of 1.9 million lawyers.