Qualcomm backs SpotDraft to scale on-device contract AI with valuation doubling toward $400M

As request grows for privacy-first endeavor AI that tin tally without sending delicate information to the cloud, SpotDraft has raised $8 cardinal from Qualcomm Ventures successful a strategical Series B hold to standard its on-device declaration reappraisal tech for regulated ineligible workflows.

The hold values SpotDraft astatine astir $380 million, the startup told TechCrunch, astir treble its $190 cardinal post-money valuation pursuing its $56 cardinal Series B successful February of past year.

Across regulated sectors, enterprises person moved rapidly to trial generative AI, but privacy, security, and information governance concerns proceed to dilatory adoption for delicate workflows — particularly successful legal, wherever contracts tin see privileged information, intelligence property, pricing, and woody terms. Industry probe has consistently flagged information information and privateness arsenic cardinal barriers to wider GenAI deployment successful nonrecreational services, pushing vendors similar SpotDraft to prosecute architectures that support halfway declaration quality connected the user’s instrumentality alternatively than routing it done the cloud.

At Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit 2025, SpotDraft demonstrated its VerifAI workflow moving end-to-end connected Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops, executing declaration reappraisal and edits offline portion keeping the papers connected the section machine. SpotDraft said net connectivity is inactive required for login, licensing, and collaboration features, but declaration review, hazard scoring, and redlining tin tally afloat offline without sending documents to the cloud.

SpotDraft sees ineligible arsenic an aboriginal proving crushed for on-device endeavor AI, arguing that delicate contracts often cannot beryllium routed done outer unreality models owed to privacy, security, and compliance constraints.

“The aboriginal of however endeavor AI is going to beryllium — close now, there’s got to beryllium AI that is adjacent to the document, which is privateness critical, latency sensitive, [and] legally sensitive, and those are the things that volition determination connected device,” said Shashank Bijapur (pictured above, left), co-founder and CEO of SpotDraft, successful an interview.

SpotDraft says VerifAI’s on-device capableness extends beyond simply generating summaries, with the instrumentality designed to use playbooks and recommendations straight wrong Microsoft Word, the mode ineligible teams already work. “VerifAI volition comparison a declaration against your guidelines, your playbooks, your anterior policies,” said Madhav Bhagat (pictured above, right), co-founder and CTO of SpotDraft.

SpotDraft’s VerifAI works successful Microsoft WordImage Credits:SpotDraft

Bijapur told TechCrunch that the request for on-device AI is emerging astir intelligibly successful tightly regulated sectors, including defence and pharma, wherever interior information reviews and information residency requirements tin dilatory oregon artifact the usage of cloud-based AI tools for delicate documents.

On-device models person rapidly closed the spread with cloud-based systems, some successful output prime and effect times, Bhagat said. “Now we’ve travel to a spot where, successful presumption of eval, we are seeing arsenic small arsenic 5% quality betwixt the frontier models, and immoderate of these fine-tuned connected instrumentality models,” helium said, adding that speeds connected newer chips are present “one-third of what we get successful the cloud.”

Since its motorboat successful 2017, SpotDraft said it has reached much than 700 customers, up from astir 400 successful February past year, and counts Apollo.io, Panasonic, Zeplin, and Whatfix among its users. The institution said adoption is rising connected its declaration lifecycle absorption platform, with customers present processing implicit 1 cardinal contracts annually, declaration volumes increasing 173% year-over-year, and astir 50,000 monthly progressive users. It besides expects 100% year-over-year gross maturation successful 2026, aft increasing 169% successful 2024 and posting a akin maturation complaint successful 2025, though it did not stock circumstantial gross figures.

SpotDraft plans to usage the caller superior to deepen its merchandise and AI capabilities and grow its endeavor beingness crossed the Americas, the EMEA portion (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), and India, Bijapur said, adding that Qualcomm’s engagement extends beyond financing into associated improvement and go-to-market efforts for on-device deployments. The startup’s on-device workflow is presently disposable to a constricted acceptable of customers, and the founders expect it to grow much broadly arsenic compatible AI PC hardware becomes much wide available.

Bengaluru- and New York-based SpotDraft said it has a squad of 300-plus employees, including 15–20 successful the U.S., wherever COO Akshay Verma is based, and 4 to 5 successful the UK, with the remainder of the workforce successful Bengaluru.

To date, the startup has raised $92 million, including the latest Qualcomm Ventures investment. Its earlier investors include Vertex Growth Singapore, Trident Growth Partners, Xeed VC, Arkam Ventures, and Prosus Ventures.