Lawdingo Announces $850k in Seed Funding, Puts Lawyers Across the Country a Click Away from Consumers
New York, NY (PRWEB) October 30, 2013 -- “Talk to a lawyer” startup, Lawdingo.com, is announcing its seed funding, and its desire to be heralded as the de facto way to get oneself a lawyer.
To the surprise of the legal industry, Lawdingo’s simple solution of letting people click a button to get a lawyer on the phone is being deemed by the general populace as more efficient than talking to a lawyer’s secretary’s voicemail. And to the surprise of that very populace, really good lawyers are more than willing to spend 20 minutes talking to them free of charge, so long as it’s through Lawdingo.
After completing a startup pilgrimage of sorts at Y Combinator, Lawdingo moved to New York City and raised an additional $690,000, bringing its outside capital raised to $850,000. Participating investors include Kartik Hosanagar of the Wharton School, Nathaniel Stevens of Yodle, Gene Alston of Groupon, Andrew Moroz of Highbridge Capital, Igor Ryanbenkiy of Altair Captial and Igor Matsanyuk of IMI.VC. Prior to this round, Lawdingo had raised capital from startup accelerator, Y Combinator and affiliate investors Andreesen Horwitz, General Catalyst, Start Fund and Maverick Capital as well as other investors with backgrounds at Yelp, Square and Google.
The company is making a bet on product and technology, both by investing most of its funds in further technology development, and by enlisting investors who have been responsible for some the greatest online consumer destinations and local marketplaces of our time. Indeed, Lawdingo aspires to follow in the footsteps of such unstoppable companies like Airbnb, Zocdoc and Opentable who have successfully created the bridge between consumers and suppliers in highly fragmented service-oriented local businesses.
The company was launched in beta November 2012. It was founded by Nikhil Nirmel, 27, who was previously in charge of quantitative research at Yelp and Yodle before that. Not a lawyer himself, Nirmel holds a degree from Penn’s Wharton School, and says he started Lawdingo because he loves the challenge. “To me, it’s such an interesting opportunity to bring a decidedly offline, relationship-based industry online with a product that most people are surprised to hear didn’t already exist.”
To bring some levity to its mission, the company produced a video, seen on this page, starring its founder as narrator, depicting Lawdingo users’ carefree lives due to their 24/7 access to legal advice and legal services online.
For press inquiries, see lawdingo.com/press or please contact press(at)lawdingo(dot)com or 917-675-4884. Lawdingo can be accessed online at http://www.lawdingo.com or by phone at 855-LAW-DINGO.
Nikhil Nirmel, Lawdingo.com, 917-675-4884, [email protected]
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