Luminance Appoints Featurespace CEO As Chair

Martina King

Luminance, which provides legal software using artificial intelligence, announced Monday the appointment of Martina King, chief executive at payments protection company Featurespace, as its chair.

The U.K.-based company said the appointment caps a year of significant growth, including the introduction of new AI products, the raising of fresh capital and a regional expansion across the U.S., Spain and Canada.

"Martina is an exceptional leader whose experience in scaling technology businesses within rapidly evolving markets will be invaluable as we continue to expand Luminance," Eleanor Lightbody, CEO of Luminance, said in a statement Monday. "Both of our companies, born in Cambridge, share a strong commitment to innovation and a rich history of developing groundbreaking technologies out of the U.K."

Featurespace, which provides transaction monitoring software, was acquired by Visa last month and integrated into its risk and identity solutions business unit. Founded in 2008, the company boasts more than 400 employees and serves financial institutions such as HSBC, NatWest Group and Barclays PLC.

King has been with the company serving as CEO since 2012. During her tenure, Featurespace has raised over £100 million ($122 million) in funding and expanded to more than 180 countries.

"I'm thrilled to join Luminance at such a pivotal moment in its journey," King said in the announcement Monday. "The company's impressive achievements in 2024 are a testament to the strength of its leadership and market impact. I look forward to bringing my experience in AI and scaling tech companies to help guide Luminance as it continues to redefine the legal sector and beyond."

Luminance also announced Monday the opening of two new offices in San Francisco and Toronto.

Founded in 2015 by AI experts from the University of Cambridge, Luminance said that it has grown to serve 700 organizations across 70 countries. The list of customers includes Dentons, Staples, AMD, AB InBev, DHL and LG Chem.

Luminance's platform uses a proprietary legal large language model, a type of machine learning that can generate text. Organizations use the tool for analyzing and creating documents, including generating contracts.

The company secured a $40 million Series B investment last year and subsequently expanded in the U.S. It also launched a contract product that automatically negotiates with a recipient last month.

--Editing by Daniel King.

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