Ghent, 3 February 2025 – Emma Legal, the AI company automating legal due diligence in M&A transactions, has raised €1.6 million in funding from London-based 6 Degrees Capital and Belgian venture firm Entourage Capital. The investment will accelerate product development and support the company’s commercial expansion across Europe and beyond.
Founded by serial entrepreneurs Rick Van Esch and Pieter Buteneers—previously the team behind Chatlayer, acquired by Sinch in 2020—Emma Legal is rethinking one of the most outdated parts of the dealmaking process: legal due diligence. Traditionally a manual effort that takes weeks or even months, the company’s AI platform now delivers high-accuracy legal analysis in a matter of hours.
“The due diligence process hasn’t changed much in the last 30 years,” said Rick Van Esch, CEO and co-founder of Emma Legal. “It’s still slow, expensive, and heavily manual. As founders who’ve experienced M&A on both sides, we knew there had to be a better way.”
Emma Legal is already used by law firms and M&A advisors across Europe and early interest from the US. The platform uses large language models to analyze data rooms, identify legal risks, and reduce time-to-close without compromising accuracy or oversight. By reviewing contracts, intellectual property, compliance issues, litigation, and more, it helps deal teams move faster with greater confidence.
“Recent breakthroughs in AI, especially the availability of high-quality large language models like GPT-4, mean there’s no longer a technical barrier to automation,” said Pieter Buteneers, CTO and co-founder. “The difference lies in combining that technology with domain expertise. That’s what allows us to deliver speed, quality, and usability in one platform.”
The funding comes at a time when global M&A activity is picking up, driven by falling interest rates and increased cross-border investment. Legal teams are under pressure to reduce risk, manage complexity, and accelerate timelines.
“Emma Legal is solving a real pain point for both lawyers and their clients,” said Lucas Stoops of 6 Degrees Capital. “Their product is intelligent, multilingual, and easy to use. It delivers faster results without sacrificing control, which is exactly what modern M&A demands.”
“Rick and Pieter have done this before,” added Pieterjan Bouten of Entourage Capital. “They know the M&A process from every angle and have the experience to scale a high-growth SaaS company. Emma Legal is launching at the perfect time, with the right product and the right team behind it.”
Emma Legal is the AI company focused on automating legal due diligence in mergers and acquisitions. Its platform helps legal and investment professionals identify legal risks faster, with more accuracy and less overhead. Founded by Rick Van Esch and Pieter Buteneers, Emma Legal is backed by 6 Degrees Capital and Entourage Capital.
