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Legal research and drafting for litigators · US

Midpage: Product, team and how it was built

Solo founderFundedB2BLegal

Midpage (Legal research and drafting for litigators, US): Paid plans live since 2024, November 2026. Evidence grade E: no revenue figure was checked. Team: 1 founder in 2022 (company page); four employees in January 2025 (Startup Alley entry); eight people listed on the company page in November 2026. Launched November 2022; still running.Added

Outcome
Paid plans live since 2024, November 2026
Evidence
E no revenue figure was checked
Launch
November 2022
Status
Still running
Team
1 founder in 2022 (company page); four employees in January 2025 (Startup Alley entry); eight people listed on the company page in November 2026
Outside funding
US$6.2M in total by June 2025, including a US$4M seed round (Artificial Lawyer)
Main channel
Not stated
No revenue figure

What is not verified

No revenue figure was found. The only figure is Zastrow's "six-figure annual revenue" in LawNext on 10 February 2025, which rests on one interview. A reader could look for a payment-processor profile, a funding announcement that states revenue, or a customer confirmation. This story is grade E: the business is real and its product, price and customers are described from public pages, but no revenue figure was checked. Aiolum shows it as an idea worth studying, not as proof that it makes money.

Midpage sells legal research software: tools that find the court opinions and laws that support an argument. It also offers an AI citator, which shows whether later courts have overruled or criticized an opinion. Lawyers use the web platform or connect Midpage to AI assistants such as Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity. The Professional plan costs US$100 a month per seat on the company's pricing page in November 2026.

Otto Zastrow founded Midpage in 2022, according to the company's own page. An Internet Archive copy of the home page from 21 December 2022 shows the slogan "Building a GitHub copilot for lawyers". In January 2025 the company listed four employees and US$1M to US$5M of outside funding in its Startup Alley entry. In June 2025 LawNext and Artificial Lawyer reported a US$4M seed round and US$6.2M raised in total.

No source gives a dated revenue figure that is a number. LawNext reported in February 2025 that Zastrow described "six-figure annual revenue", and this rests on one interview. The customer counts on the home page and the company page are company claims, and they differ from each other. The company page now lists eight people.

Midpage: Paid plans live since 2024, November 2026. Legal research and drafting for litigators, US, team of 2 to 10, evidence grade E.
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01

Why did Midpage work?

Four causes, in the order they mattered. Each one is a reusable lesson.

01

It built its own case-law database instead of licensing one

LawNext reported in February 2025 that Midpage chose to build its database largely from scratch. It started from public data such as CourtListener and filled gaps in coverage. The data page in November 2026 says Midpage holds all rights to its content and relies on no data suppliers. That is the company's claim.

02

It published one monthly price and a free trial

LawNext listed US$99 a month after a two-week trial in February 2025. The company page in November 2026 states US$100 a month and compares this with Westlaw and Lexis, which it does not price on the page.

03

It sold the same corpus to other software makers

The data page offers an API, a hosted MCP server and a database replica. The data page lists an entry tier of US$1,000 a month for prototypes and internal use. The company says Perplexity, Litera, Noxtua and BriefCatch use the data.

How it was built

These details come from the company's own pages and from LawNext. They are grade C. [5, 6, 1, 9]

  • The company built a case-law database from public sources and gap-filling, and it reached more than 10 million cases by December 2024, according to Zastrow.
  • LawNext reported in February 2025 that the company used OpenAI's models with some fine-tuning on its own examples.
  • The features reported in 2025 were AI-generated columns that filter search results, a proposition search, an AI agent and a citator.
  • By November 2026 the company offers the product on its own site and inside Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Harvey.

Tools named in the sources

Each one opens its page in the Tools tab, with every story that uses it.

02

Who tried this before Midpage, and why did they fail?

Two companies in our database of failed startups sold software to lawyers. The values below are from that database on 11 November 2026 and are not independently verified.

Died 2015 to 2018 (record); platform closed 31 January 2021 (LawNext)Burned US$13.0M burned

ROSS Intelligence

The promise

AI-powered legal research that finds case law faster than traditional methods.

Why it died

The record says it struggled to gain traction against incumbents that hold large datasets. LawNext reported in December 2020 that Thomson Reuters' lawsuit stopped it from raising money or being acquired.

Traction against incumbents
Died 2015 to 2018Burned US$120K burned

jEugene

The promise

Contract review that finds errors and inconsistencies with an algorithm.

Why it died

The record attributes the failure to an inability to adapt to a fast-changing legal tech market. The same record also says the company may still operate, so the cause is uncertain.

Could not adapt to the legal tech market

The failed startups come from our database of 1,749 dead startups, retold here in our own words. Its entries are AI-assisted summaries of public sources, so these cards carry no evidence grade.

What changed

Thomson Reuters sued ROSS in 2020 and alleged that ROSS copied Westlaw content, which ROSS denied. LawNext reported in December 2020 that the lawsuit stopped ROSS from raising money or being acquired, and that ROSS shut down. Midpage says it holds the rights to its own data. That claim is the main difference, and this page could not verify it.

Midpage also sells through AI assistants and to other software makers, so a lawyer need not switch tools. The founder says the company is "focused on case law" and not on contracts. LawNext printed that quotation in February 2025.

03

Can one person copy Midpage now?

Partly, and only with funding.

A solo founder cannot repeat this today. LawNext and Artificial Lawyer reported US$6.2M raised in total by June 2025, and the company listed four employees in January 2025. What can be copied is the sequence: build the data first, publish a price, then sell the data to others.

Where it is still open: Other fields where public records are scattered and professionals pay for search: patents, building permits, public tenders.

  1. 1Pick one narrow professional job, such as litigators who research case law.
  2. 2Own the dataset the AI reads, so no supplier can cut off access.
  3. 3Publish a monthly price and offer a free trial.
  4. 4Sell the same data through an API once the product works.
04

How much revenue does Midpage make?

Each row shows the evidence grade and the source numbers from the list at the end of this page. The grades are explained in How Aiolum verifies.

A funded legal research company with published prices and no checkable revenue figure. The facts below are the strongest dated ones, mostly company statements
FactValueGradeHow we knowSources
Company start2022CThe company page says Otto Zastrow founded Midpage in 2022. The January 2025 Startup Alley entry gives "11/1/2022" as the founding date. An Internet Archive copy of the home page is dated 21 December 2022.[2, 8, 10]
Revenue, February 2025"six-figure annual revenue"DZastrow's words to LawNext on 10 February 2025. LawNext wrote that revenue began in the past four months. No exact number is given.[5]
Price, February 2025US$99 a month, and US$10 a month for law studentsCLawNext, 10 February 2025, after a two-week free trial.[5]
Price, April 2026US$99 a month plus AI costs for drafting; US$25 for studentsCInternet Archive copy of the pricing page captured on 18 April 2026.[4]
Price, November 2026US$100 a month monthly or US$80 a month annuallyCPricing page and company page. The plan now lists unlimited AI research with an abuse limit.[2, 3]
Team, January 2025four employees from three countriesCThe company's own Startup Alley entry, as printed by LawNext. The entry says the team is mostly non-lawyers.[8]
Team, November 20268 named peopleCThe company page lists a founder and CEO, a head of data, a head of product, a counsel and four software developers.[2]
Outside fundingUS$6.2M in total by June 2025CArtificial Lawyer and LawNext, 2 June 2025. The US$4M seed round was led by an unnamed legal publishing house. LawNext reported in February 2025 that two earlier rounds were US$1M each.[5, 6, 7]
Data corpus, November 202616M+ opinions and 50M+ trial docketsCHome page claim. The data page says all federal courts and all state appellate courts are covered.[1, 9]
Customers named by the companyPerplexity, Litera, Noxtua and BriefCatch use its dataCCompany page. No named customer has confirmed this in a source read for this page.[2]
Customer counts, November 202620+ AmLaw 100 firms and 500+ boutiques (home page); 300+ law firms (company page)CThe home page and the company page give counts that do not match. The data page says it supplies 40+ AmLaw 100 firms.[1, 2, 9]
Months from the start to the status date48 monthscalcCalculated: November 2022 to November 2026.[2, 8]

How to read this table. Grade C is a statement by the company or its founder, also when a journalist reports it. Grade D is one unverified statement. A "calc" value was computed on this page.

Midpage prices on the company's pricing page and data page, read on 11 November 2026 (grade C)
PlanPer month, billed yearly (US$)Per month, billed monthly (US$)Limit
Professional801001 seat, unlimited AI research with an abuse limit
Law Student25Proof of US law school enrolment or employment
Data for prototyping and internal use1,000Rate limited API and MCP access, internal use only

Professional costs US$100 a month for one seat when billed monthly, and US$80 a month when billed annually, which is US$960 a year. The company page states the annual price. The pricing page says it reserves the right to suspend accounts with abnormally high usage. The Law Student plan needs proof of enrolment or employment at a US law school. The Professional and Law Student plans do not include API access.

05

When did Midpage launch, and how did it grow?

From a one-line home page in December 2022 to paid plans, a data business and eight listed people in November 2026. Each entry carries its grade.

  1. 1 November 2022CThe company gives this as its founding date in the January 2025 Startup Alley entry. The date is a company claim. [8]
  2. 21 December 2022CAn Internet Archive copy of the home page shows one line, "Building a GitHub copilot for lawyers", and an email form. [10]
  3. Late 2024DRevenue begins, according to Zastrow's interview with LawNext in February 2025. Zastrow says the database passed 10 million cases in December 2024. [5]
  4. 10 February 2025DLawNext reports full case-law coverage and a coming citator. Zastrow says revenue went from zero to "six-figure annual revenue". [5]
  5. 2 June 2025CMidpage announces a US$4M seed round, US$6.2M in total, and a Proposition Search feature. [6, 7]
  6. November 2026CThe home page says Midpage connects to Harvey. The pricing page lists the Professional plan at US$100 a month, and the data page lists a data tier from US$1,000 a month. [1, 3, 9]

What could go wrong for Midpage?

The risks are the mirror image of the causes above.

What is not verified

No revenue figure was found. The only figure is Zastrow's "six-figure annual revenue" in LawNext on 10 February 2025, which rests on one interview. A reader could look for a payment-processor profile, a funding announcement that states revenue, or a customer confirmation.

Logo wall, counters and badges are the company's claims

The home page shows counters: 20+ AmLaw 100 firms, 500+ boutiques, 5 multibillion-dollar organizations that buy its data, and 600,000+ agent calls a week. It also reports the company's own benchmark, in which a blind judge preferred the answer with Midpage on 89 of 100 questions. The data page shows the logos of Perplexity, Litera, Noxtua, BriefCatch and United States Courts, and says it supplies 40+ Am Law 100 firms. The company page says 300+ law firms. The footer shows SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA badges. No source read for this page confirms these.

The student plan is for law students and faculty

The plan requires proof of enrolment or employment at a US law school. The company page describes it as an academic plan to "learn and teach legal research". The plan includes the same AI research tools as the Professional plan. The pages read for this story do not market it for writing coursework.

The team grew after funding

The company reported four employees in January 2025, and the company page lists eight people in November 2026. The company raised US$6.2M in total by June 2025, according to Artificial Lawyer.

Sources

The grade next to each source is the best grade that the source can support. "Read in full" means that the text of the page was downloaded and the numbers were checked in it.

  1. C Midpage home page, read 11 November 2026
    Read in full. Company claims: counters, corpus size, prices and the Harvey integration.
  2. C About Midpage (company page), read 11 November 2026
    Read in full. Source for the start year, the people list, the prices and the named data customers.
  3. C Midpage pricing page, read 11 November 2026
    Read in full. Source for the Professional and Law Student prices.
  4. C Midpage pricing page, Internet Archive copy of 18 April 2026
    Read in full. Shows the earlier price of US$99 a month plus AI costs for drafting.
  5. C LawNext (LawSites), 10 February 2025: Legal Research Startup Midpage Passes Threshold As It Achieves 'Full' Case Coverage and Readies Citator Launch
    Read in full. Source for the revenue statement, the early prices, the earlier funding and the OpenAI models.
  6. C LawNext (LawSites), 2 June 2025: Legal Research Startup Midpage Raises $4M, Launches Proposition Search Feature
    Read in full. Source for the US$4M seed round and the US$6.2M total.
  7. C Artificial Lawyer, 2 June 2025: Midpage Bags $4m Seed + Launches 'Proposition Search'
    Read in full. A second report of the seed round and the total.
  8. C LawNext, January 2025: Startup Alley 2025 ballot, Midpage entry
    Read the Midpage entry. The company wrote it. Source for the founding date, the employee count and the funding range.
  9. C Midpage data page (For Legal Tech), read 11 November 2026
    Read in full. Source for the data tiers, the data price and the customer claims.
  10. C Midpage home page, Internet Archive copy of 21 December 2022
    Read in full. Shows the earliest version of the site.
  11. C Database of failed startups, local export
    Record pages read on the website on the day of writing. AI-written summaries, not independently verified. The LawNext article gives the ROSS shutdown date.
  12. C LawNext (LawSites), 11 December 2020: Legal Research Company ROSS to Shut Down Under Pressure of Thomson Reuters Lawsuit
    Read in full. Source for the ROSS shutdown date, the Thomson Reuters allegation and the denial by ROSS.

Run this company? Send corrections or a verified figure to aiolum@livyden.com

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