Steno raises $49M Series C to scale AI-powered court reporting
What's the deal? Steno, a Los Angeles-based legal tech company that specialises in court reporting and litigation support, has raised $49 million in Series C funding. Savano Capital PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → led the round, with continued participation from First Round Capital, The Legal Tech FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and other strategic investors.
The capital will fund nationwide expansion, upgrades to its proprietary platform, and the next generation of Transcript Genius — its AI-powered transcript analysis tool.
Why now? Legal services remain one of the most manual-intensive white-collar industries. Steno, founded in 2018, has positioned itself at the intersection of traditional court reporting and AI-driven automation — a niche that has grown more attractive as firms look to cut costs and speed up litigation workflows.
The company wants to deepen penetration within the AmLaw 200, the ranking of the largest US law firms by revenue. "Because we operate as both a world-class services provider and a tech company, we have a unique advantage," said Greg Hong, chief executive. "That hybrid position allows us to build AI capabilities that software-only companies simply cannot replicate."
What could go wrong? Legal tech is notoriously hard to sell into. Law firms are conservative buyers, and court reporting is a regulated, relationship-driven business. Scaling a service-plus-software model nationwide means hiring and retaining court reporters — skilled professionals already in short supply.
Steno also faces competition from incumbents like VeritextDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and newer AI-native entrants. Convincing top-tier litigators to switch providers on high-stakes cases requires more than good technology; it demands trust built over time.
The signal: With First Round Capital — a seed-stage heavyweight better known for bets on Uber and Notion — doubling down at the Series C, Steno's hybrid services-plus-software model is clearly resonating beyond the specialist legal tech investor base. The company, still classified as early growth on Dealroom, is scaling into a corner of litigation spend where few AI-native competitors have yet built the operational trust required to win high-stakes mandates.
Read more: latimes.com
