Qanooni Pockets US$2 Million In Pre-Seed Round

Dubai-based artificial intelligence (AI)-powered legal technology platform Qanooni has secured US$2 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate its mission of reshaping how legal teams work—not by replacing lawyers, but by amplifying their judgment with secure, specialized AI tools.  

Backed by California-based venture capital (VC) firm Village Global, the MENA-focused Oryx Fund by Salica Investments, German-based early-stage VC TA Ventures, and a group of strategic angel investors, the startup plans to use the funds to scale its operations across the UAE and UK while deepening its product roadmap. 

Founded by Anuscha Iqbal, Ziyaad Ahmed, and Karim Shiyab in the UAE in 2024, Qanooni integrates directly into Microsoft Outlook and Word—the digital homes of most legal professionals—to deliver AI-powered drafting, review, research, and matter management. But its ambitions go far beyond integration. 

“When we set out to build Qanooni, we weren’t just looking to ride the wave of AI in legaltech—we wanted to solve the real, frustrating gaps we had seen firsthand in the industry,” co-founder Iqbal told Inc. Arabia in an interview. 

With a background in law and fintech, Iqbal told us that, from her experience, most existing legal AI tools prioritize scale over security—a mismatch in an industry where trust, confidentiality, and accuracy are paramount. “Too often we saw systems that retained sensitive client data, offered little control to the lawyer, or gave generic, unaccountable outputs,” she said. “That was our starting point. Qanooni was built to close these gaps.” 

To deliver on its promise of privacy and control, Qanooni has built its infrastructure from the ground up with security as the starting point. “No client data is retained, no prompts or outputs are logged, and sensitive information is tokenized immediately,” Iqbal explained to us. 

“Everything is hosted securely in-region on Microsoft Azure to meet the strictest local and international standards like Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Data Protection Law and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Data Law. We wanted our users—law firms and their clients—to sleep well at night knowing their data is truly protected.” 

Anuscha Iqbal, co-founder, Qanooni. Photo courtesy Qanooni.

Just as critically, Qanooni rejects the idea that general-purpose AI can handle the nuance of legal tasks. “Drafting a clause isn’t the same as classifying a document or summarizing a case. So, we built Qanooni with a multi-large language model (LLM), agent-based approach—allowing the platform to route each legal task to the best specialized model, ensuring accuracy and efficiency at every step.” 

Crucially, Qanooni’s goal is not to automate legal thinking, but to support it. “We didn’t want AI to replace the lawyer’s judgment—we wanted to empower it,” said Iqbal. That philosophy is baked into the company’s “lawyer-in-the-loop” (LITL) mechanism, which ensures that every AI output is subject to review and approval by a legal expert. As Iqbal put it, “Qanooni amplifies the human expert; it doesn’t sideline them.” 

The platform also features full audit logs, real-time monitoring, and strict access controls—offering firms the ability to demonstrate compliance and security at any moment. “In the end, Qanooni is not just an AI platform—it’s our answer to what legal AI should have been from the start: secure, specialized, and human-centered,” she said. 

As Qanooni looks to the future, it’s not just adapting to trends—it aims to pre-empt to them. “Over the next 3 to 5 years, I believe we’re going to see some fundamental shifts in legaltech—shifts that will separate tools that merely digitize law from platforms that actually transform it,” Iqbal told us. 

Chief among these is the rise of context-aware AI. “The days of generic, one-size-fits-all language models are ending. Lawyers don’t need an AI that knows everything; they need one that knows their matter, their jurisdiction, their client, their risk appetite,” she said. 

Which is precisely what Qanooni aims to offer, Iqbal added, with its multi-LLM architecture that gives firms control over their data and jurisdictional boundaries. 

Equally important is explainability. “Law firms will no longer tolerate black-box AI,” Iqbal said. “Explainability, auditability, and control will be non-negotiable. Regulators—from the EU AI Act to local data authorities—will require it. So will risk-averse clients.” 

To address the dual issues of transparency and oversight, Qanooni integrated its lawyer-in-the-loop (LITL) framework as a foundational element of the platform, which is designed to address regulatory requirements as well as to maintain the high standards that law firms expect. 

Iqbal also told us that she expects geopolitical shifts and data residency requirements to push firms toward regionally hosted solutions. “Law firms are increasingly looking for platforms that offer true data sovereignty, not just contractual assurances. Qanooni addresses this need by hosting its services fully in-region on Azure UAE North and aligning with legal standards like the DIFC and GDPR.” 

But beyond infrastructure and compliance, Iqbal sees a larger, more fundamental shift taking place in the legal industry. “AI won’t replace lawyers—it will reshape how they work. Firms that pair human judgment with tailored AI assistance will outperform—in speed, cost, and insight. Those who blindly trust AI or fear it will fall behind.” 

As Qanooni scales into both the UAE and UK markets, Iqbal has learned firsthand the importance of localizing not just the product, but the entire go-to-market approach. 

“Legaltech isn’t a one-playbook business—because law itself is local, regulated, and deeply cultural,” she explained. “What works in London may not work in Dubai—and vice versa. As a founder, you have to tailor every part of your approach to the market you’re in.” 

She added, “In the UAE, trust and compliance come first. Clients want local hosting, data sovereignty, and regulatory assurance (DIFC, GDPR) before they talk features. Face-to-face credibility matters.” 

“In the UK, by contrast, the market is more comfortable with software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud abstraction—but demands robust certifications (like ISO, SOC2), independent audit rights, and third-party validation,” she continued. “The market is further along the tech adoption curve—they expect technical clarity and proof of value.” 

Iqbal’s advice for other startup founders navigating cross-border growth is clear: success depends on understanding each market’s specific expectations and norms. “The biggest mistake founders make is assuming the same pitch will land everywhere. It won’t. Tailor your message, prove local value, and build trust in the way each market expects. You can’t scale culture-blind. You have to lead market-smart.”