Orbital raises £44M to digitise real estate legal processes — full details
What Orbital does
Orbital aims to modernise how property sales and leases are managed legally, replacing paper-heavy and manual processes with cloud-based automation and AI.
Key capabilities of the platform include:
- Digital contracts and agreements
- Automated document checking for compliance
- AI-powered risk flagging for property transactions
- Collaboration tools for solicitors, conveyancers, and clients
- Workflow management to reduce delays in conveyancing
By integrating legal expertise with technology, Orbital enables property teams and law firms to complete transactions faster, with fewer errors, and greater transparency for buyers and sellers.
The problem Orbital solves
Property transactions are traditionally slow, costly, and prone to errors:
- Paper-based contracts
- Repetitive manual checks
- Delays between solicitors, agents, and banks
- Lack of centralised communication
Orbital’s platform digitises the entire property legal workflow, enabling:
- Real-time document updates
- AI-driven validation of legal clauses
- Automated status tracking
- Secure digital signatures
This streamlines processes, reducing transaction timelines and improving client experience.
Funding round details
- Amount: £44M (~$55M)
- Lead investor: Index Ventures
- Other investors: Accel, Balderton Capital, and existing backers
- Purpose:
- Expand product capabilities
- Scale UK operations and enter international markets
- Enhance AI tools for contract validation and risk assessment
- Strengthen partnerships with law firms and real estate platforms
The raise highlights strong investor confidence in legal automation for real estate, a historically slow-adopting sector.
Market context
Digitisation of real estate legal processes addresses:
- The £9 trillion UK property market inefficiencies
- Slow adoption of technology in law firms
- Growing demand from property buyers for faster, transparent transactions
Orbital sits at the intersection of PropTech and LegalTech, enabling:
- Faster conveyancing
- Reduced transaction costs
- Improved compliance and risk management
Customers and traction
Orbital works with:
- Large real estate agencies
- Law firms specialising in property
- Financial institutions handling mortgages and leases
The platform has digitised hundreds of property transactions and continues to expand its adoption among UK conveyancers and property developers.
Why it matters
The funding reflects a broader trend of legal process automation in slow-moving, high-value industries like real estate.
By combining:
- AI document analysis
- Automated workflows
- Digital collaboration
Orbital is transforming property transactions from a manual process into a digital service, improving efficiency for buyers, sellers, and law firms alike.
Orbital raises £44M to digitise real estate legal processes — case studies and comments
Orbital’s £44M funding highlights the growing legal-tech + prop-tech intersection, aiming to transform property transactions from manual, paper-heavy processes into fully digital workflows. Below are practical examples and industry commentary showing why this matters.
Case Studies
1) Accelerating conveyancing for homebuyers
Situation:
A medium-sized UK law firm struggled with long property conveyancing cycles—average sales took 12–16 weeks due to manual document review, repeated queries, and slow communication between solicitors, banks, and agents.
Orbital implementation:
- Digital contracts and agreements
- AI checks for missing clauses and compliance issues
- Real-time status updates for all parties
Results:
- Average transaction time reduced to 6–8 weeks
- Fewer errors in contracts
- Improved client satisfaction due to transparency
Insight:
Digital workflows allow legal teams to focus on exceptions, not repetitive document review.
2) Streamlining lease agreements for commercial property
Situation:
A commercial real estate firm managed hundreds of lease agreements manually. Errors in clauses and missed renewal dates led to lost revenue.
Orbital implementation:
- Centralised lease management system
- Automated risk and clause validation using AI
- Alerts for upcoming renewals or unusual terms
Results:
- Reduced missed renewals
- Faster negotiation cycles
- Standardised compliance across multiple properties
Insight:
Automation ensures consistency and reduces financial and legal risk in high-value contracts.
3) Banks reducing mortgage approval delays
Situation:
Mortgage lenders faced delays waiting for legal clearance on property documentation, slowing approval timelines.
Orbital implementation:
- Integration with lenders’ systems for document verification
- AI-driven analysis flags inconsistencies
- Digital collaboration between solicitors and mortgage teams
Results:
- Mortgage approval cycles shortened by up to 40%
- Faster access to funds for buyers
- Reduced administrative bottlenecks for lenders
Insight:
Digitised legal processes improve not just law firms, but the entire property transaction ecosystem.
Industry Comments & Analysis
1) Legal process automation is finally entering real estate
Property transactions are traditionally slow and paper-heavy. Investors are now betting that AI + workflow automation will save weeks of administrative time, reduce errors, and create better customer experiences.
2) Real-time collaboration replaces siloed work
With Orbital, solicitors, agents, banks, and buyers can all collaborate in the same system. This is similar to how project management tools transformed corporate workflows: visibility and speed are key.
3) AI risk detection reduces financial exposure
AI automatically checks contracts for unusual clauses or potential compliance issues. Firms can focus on exceptions rather than manually reviewing thousands of documents.
4) PropTech + LegalTech convergence is the next growth area
Orbital represents a broader trend where property, finance, and law intersect. Investors see value in end-to-end digital property platforms, from contract drafting to approval to execution.
Strategic takeaway
Orbital is not just digitising documents — it’s transforming real estate transactions into a structured, automated, and transparent workflow system.
The platform reduces legal friction, accelerates deals, and creates a blueprint for the future of property transactions globally.