AI judicial intelligence platform Bench IQ has raised $5.3 million in seed funding led by Battery Ventures and Inovia Capital, with participation from CIBC Innovation Banking, MVP Ventures, Maple VC, and Haystack VC.
The Toronto-based company said the fresh capital will be used to grow its proprietary dataset, strengthen its AI agents, and scale its teams across the U.S. and Canada. The funding underscores investor confidence in a platform already trusted by AmLaw 200 firms, including four of the top five.
Litigation often hinges on anticipating how a judge will approach a case—a challenge traditional legal research tools can’t fully address. Only about 3% of rulings in the U.S. come with written opinions, leaving a vast majority of judicial decision-making outside the reach of existing case law platforms.
Bench IQ aims to close that gap with its proprietary dataset and AI-driven agents that identify judicial reasoning patterns. “With Bench IQ, litigators gain judicial intelligence—the ability to understand how presiding judges think, enabling them to craft smarter strategies and deliver better results clients will pay for,” said Jimoh Ovbiagele, co-founder and CEO of Bench IQ.
The platform is already being used to inform high-stakes litigation. In bankruptcy proceedings, for instance, it can highlight when and why judges have previously approved above-market protections. In patent disputes, it can surface past rulings on evidence admissibility to guide arguments that could influence damages.
“Bench IQ is transformative because we give litigators judicial intelligence that was once impossible to gather,” said Jeffrey Gettleman, co-founder and CCO. “The judge is the single most important stakeholder in any legal proceeding. When billions are on the line, every nuance in judicial philosophy matters.”
Bench IQ was founded in 2023 by Ovbiagele, a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and co-founder of ROSS Intelligence; Maxim Isakov, ROSS’s founding engineer and now Bench IQ’s CTO; and Gettleman, a 17-year Kirkland & Ellis veteran specializing in complex Chapter 11 cases. The company’s growing team includes alumni from Google, Amazon, Tesla, Meta, Airbnb, and Instacart.
“In a market where many legal AI tools focus on saving time or rely on commoditized data, Bench IQ stands apart,” said Brandon Gleklen, principal at Battery Ventures. “Users tell us the platform doesn’t just help—it transforms how they prepare for high-stakes moments in court.”
Inovia Capital partner Karamdeep Nijjar added: “We’ve known Jimoh and Maxim since their ROSS Intelligence days, and with Jeffrey’s legal expertise, they bring a rare mix of technical and industry insight. Bench IQ is already earning outstanding customer feedback. We’re excited to support them in building an iconic legal AI company.”
