Westpac invests $10 million in Lawpath to offer customers legal services

Westpac hit the EFT button on $10 million for the online legal services scaleup Lawpath, and plans to entice business customers by offering them subscriptions to the legal compliance platform.

The bank’s acting business and wealth boss Peter Herbert, said the exclusive partnership will give startups and small-to-medium sized businesses access to affordable legal services, accounting and compliance technology.

“Our investment in Lawpath aligns with Westpac’s strategy to partner with companies which offer our customers services to help run their business and make the complex simple,” he said.

“Lawpath currently supports half a million businesses to set up and grow, helping drive an important sector in the economy. Lawpath can help Westpac customers make starting and running a business easier, including registering an ABN, setting up a website or accessing expert small business legal services.

Lawpath launched in 2014 as an affordable online alternative for legal work and initially targeted startups and small business. It went on to raise $4.4 million in 2019 for its push into Asia, and then $7.5 million in 2021. US online law pioneer LegalZoom has been a key supporter, leading those rounds alongside tipping in $1.3 million in 2015 and $1.8 million in 2018.

Other investors include businessman David Gonski’s family office, Justin Ryan, and Tony Faure.

Lawpath CEO Dominic Woolrych said their ambition is to support business with a broad range of services.

“We’ve seen increased demand for our services over the past few years, including in our artificial intelligence solutions which are helping to simplify the complexity of starting and running a business,” he said.

“We are delighted to partner with Australia’s oldest bank and company to help more businesses to get started and grow and support growth in the economy.”