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Nextlaw Ventures
Dan Jansen leads Nextlaw Ventures, a globally active early-stage venture investor focused exclusively on legal technology.
Nextlaw Ventures
Nextlaw Ventures operates as a globally active early-stage venture investor with a single-sector mandate: legal technology. Managing Director Dan Jansen, a former Boston Consulting Group practice leader and serial entrepreneur, guides the firm’s investment decisions. His background spans professional services and company-building across legal, media, financial services, and recruiting sectors, a profile that informs the firm’s practitioner-grounded approach to legal-tech investing. The firm deploys capital at the seed, start-up, and growth stages, targeting companies that address legal business and practice challenges. Its investment strategy rests on post-investment connectivity — portfolio companies gain access to law firms of every size, corporate legal departments, and legal jurisdictions worldwide through the firm’s network. The portfolio includes companies such as Apperio, a legal spend analytics platform, and the firm states that it helps portfolio companies increase product maturity and valuation by leveraging that global distribution channel. The firm is wrapping up its current fund and is not adding new companies to the portfolio at this time, a posture that signals a deliberate harvest-or-transition phase rather than active fundraising. Public team information is sparse; Dan Jansen is the only named principal on the website. No disclosed AUM, team headcount, or additional office locations appear in available firm materials. Nextlaw Ventures occupies an unusual position: a venture fund whose primary competitive advantage is embedded distribution rather than pure capital. By limiting its scope to legal technology and drawing on an investor network that includes major law firms and corporate legal groups, the firm functions as a commercial accelerator for its portfolio companies, a structure that closely resembles corporate venture capital without being captive to a single enterprise. Its decision to pause new investments raises questions about succession, fund structure, and whether the strategy rolls into a successor vehicle.
General information
Firm type
Venture Capital
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
—
Corporate office
United States
Principals
Dan Jansen
Managing Director, Nextlaw Ventures
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Nextlaw Ventures?
Dan Jansen is the Managing Director of Nextlaw Ventures and leads investment decisions. He brings a mix of entrepreneurial and professional services experience, including roles leading the Global Media Practice at the Boston Consulting Group and advising startups at Arthur Young & Company.
How does Nextlaw Ventures source proprietary deal flow?
The firm sources deal flow through its network of investors and relationships across the legal industry, which includes law firms, corporate legal departments, and other legal-sector entities. This network also serves as a distribution and commercial channel for portfolio companies post-investment.
Is Nextlaw Ventures currently making new investments?
No. According to the firm’s website, Nextlaw Ventures is wrapping up its current fund and will not be adding any new companies at this time. The firm has not publicly announced a successor fund or new investment vehicle.
What investment stages does Nextlaw Ventures target?
Nextlaw Ventures targets early-stage companies. Per its stated strategy, the firm invests at the seed, start-up, and growth stages, exclusively within the legal technology sector.
Does Nextlaw Ventures focus on any sectors beyond legal technology?
No. The firm focuses exclusively on legal technology. Its stated purpose is to identify and invest in technology that addresses legal business and practice challenges across Big Law, midsize firms, boutique firms, and corporate legal markets.
How does Nextlaw Ventures support its portfolio companies beyond capital?
The firm leverages its team, investor base, and global reach to help portfolio companies increase product maturity and valuation. It connects companies to law firms and corporate clients across multiple jurisdictions and practice areas, acting as a commercial growth partner.
What is Nextlaw Ventures' relationship to the law firm network it references?
Nextlaw Ventures has not publicly disclosed the specific structure or named the investors behind the fund. Its website references a network that includes access to thousands of law firms and corporate legal clients, but the exact legal and financial relationships between the fund and those entities are not detailed in public sources (per firm website).
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