Keith secures £2M to establish the most automated law firm in the UK.

      Andy Shovel and Pete Sharman, who established THIS as a leading plant-based food brand, are making a significant shift. Keith is an AI-driven regulated law firm focused primarily on conveyancing, featuring a 24/7 AI client agent and aiming to cut transaction times by 70%. The launch is scheduled for Q3 2026.

      Shovel's previous venture involved the sale of plant-based bacon and chicken, while his current company will be regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.

      This pivot is strikingly sharp, yet the reasoning behind it is clear: identify a large, fragmented market that has seen little change over several decades and reconstruct it with technology.

      For THIS, that market was meat alternatives. With Keith, it is conveyancing.

      Keith has secured £2 million in seed funding, led by Backed VC, with contributions from Breega and various angel investors.

      These funds will be allocated towards creating a fully regulated AI-driven law firm that Shovel, co-founder Pete Sharman, and third co-founder Sam Tucker intend to launch in Q3 2026.

      The initial focus will be on residential property conveyancing, which is the legal process of transferring property ownership, before branching out into additional legal areas.

      The foundational technology consists of a network of specialized AI agents designed to manage document review, drafting, client communication, and workflow management, all operating within legally set boundaries and under the oversight of qualified conveyancers at critical points.

      Keith estimates that nearly 80% of tasks traditionally carried out by humans in the legal field can be automated in this setup. The client interaction layer features a 24/7 AI service agent available via phone and WhatsApp, which the company asserts will be nearly indistinguishable from a human operator, capable of responding to inquiries, providing real-time updates, and taking actions instantly without the limitations of standard business hours.

      The market landscape is evident. Over 530,000 property transactions in the UK fall through annually, often due to the slow and opaque nature of the conveyancing process itself, which has not been significantly modernized by technology, despite the legal market generating around £54 billion in yearly revenue.

      Keith aims for a 70% decrease in transaction times. Shovel’s motivation is personal; he recounted to Legal Futures a distressing experience while trying to buy a house about a year ago, which inspired the creation of Keith.

      Sam Tucker, the third co-founder, previously established Common Surface, a hybrid scheduling platform, and now leads product development at Keith.

      The company’s non-executive director and strategic advisor, Eddie Goldsmith, a former chairman of the UK Conveyancing Association and founder of a noteworthy conveyancing firm in the 1990s, contributes regulatory and industry knowledge to the team.

      Keith is pursuing authorization from the Council for Licensed Conveyancers rather than the Solicitors Regulation Authority, a strategic decision the founders claim aligns better with the technologically disruptive approach they envision. Once Keith branches into other legal areas, it plans to seek regulation from the SRA.