Legal AI startup Harvey just confirmed its third massive funding round of 2025, hitting an $8 billion valuation with a $160 million Series F led by Andreessen Horowitz. The astronomical rise from $3 billion to $8 billion in just 10 months showcases Silicon Valley's aggressive 'kingmaking' strategy for AI winners.
Harvey just pulled off one of 2025's most audacious funding streaks, confirming Thursday it closed a $160 million Series F that values the legal AI startup at $8 billion. The Andreessen Horowitz-led round caps an unprecedented year where Harvey tripled its valuation through three separate mega-rounds.
The funding frenzy started in February when Sequoia Capital led Harvey's $300 million Series D at a $3 billion valuation. By June, the startup had already doubled that with a $300 million Series E at $5 billion. Now, just six months later, it's hit $8 billion - representing $760 million raised in a single year for a company that didn't exist before 2022.
"It all started with a proof of concept about landlord-tenant law and a cold email to Sam Altman," Harvey founder and CEO Winston Weinberg recently told TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos. That cold email landed Harvey as one of OpenAI Startup Fund's first investments, launching a VC love affair that shows no signs of cooling.
The numbers back up the hype. Harvey now serves 50 of the top AmLaw 100 law firms and surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue back in August, according to company disclosures. That's remarkable traction for a startup founded just three years ago by Weinberg, then a first-year legal associate who saw how AI could transform an industry built entirely on processing words.
But Harvey's rocket ship trajectory also represents something bigger: Silicon Valley's new "kingmaking" strategy for AI startups. As TechCrunch reported this week, VCs are pouring vast sums into select startups to signal market dominance, which then encourages enterprise customers like Big Law firms to sign massive contracts in a self-fulfilling prophecy.
"Harvey is one of the AI market leaders that is experiencing bona fide growth because its tech and market position are just working," longtime investor Elad Gil told TechCrunch. Gil sits alongside heavyweights EQT, WndrCo, Kleiner Perkins, and Sarah Guo's Conviction in Harvey's investor syndicate.
