Mishcon de Reya has advised legal technology company Ayora on its sale to BigHand.
The transaction brings together two highly respected names in legal pricing and AI innovation, with the aim of helping law firms improve profitability and commercial performance.
Ayora was incubated in MDR Lab, our programme for early-stage technology companies, and Mishcon de Reya is also a customer of the business. We have supported Ayora from the early stages of its development through to this latest milestone.
The acquisition follows Ayora's partnership with BigHand, announced last quarter. The first phase will bring Ayora's data enrichment technology and agentic workflows together with BigHand's Matter Pricing solution, with combined capabilities expected later this year. The businesses also intends to extend Ayora's AI technology into areas where BigHand already has an established presence, including resource management and business intelligence.
Andrew Wolfin, Partner at Mishcon de Reya, commented: “This is a really satisfying success story – having supported Ayora through MDR Lab and worked closely with the business as a key enterprise customer, we are especially delighted to have advised Stefan and the team through the next stage of its development. This deal is a great example of our commitment to advising ambitious, fast-growing businesses, and to helping advance a more tech-enabled legal sector.”
Stefan Ciesla, CEO and co-founder of Ayora, commented: “Ayora was incubated in MDR Lab in 2023, and Mishcon has been a valued customer ever since. It therefore felt particularly fitting to have the firm advise us on this important milestone. Andrew and his team were outstanding throughout, expertly guiding us through the complexities of the transaction and offering pragmatic solutions at every stage. They were also an absolute pleasure to work with. We could not have been in safer hands.”
Ayora said that joining BigHand will enable it to bring its technology to more firms, more quickly, while continuing its mission to empower legal transformation through better data.
The Mishcon de Reya team was led by Andrew Wolfin and Becki Quick, who were supported by Hannah Leaf and Liron Cohen.