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

As demand grows for privacy-first enterprise AI that may run with out sending delicate information to the cloud, SpotDraft has raised $8 million from Qualcomm Ventures in a strategic Collection B extension to scale its on-device contract evaluate tech for regulated authorized workflows.

The extension values SpotDraft at round $380 million, the startup informed TechCrunch, almost double its $190 million post-money valuation following its $56 million Collection B in February of final 12 months.

Throughout regulated sectors, enterprises have moved rapidly to check generative AI, however privateness, safety, and information governance issues proceed to gradual adoption for delicate workflows — particularly in authorized, the place contracts can embody privileged info, mental property, pricing, and deal phrases. Trade analysis has persistently flagged information safety and privateness as key limitations to wider GenAI deployment in skilled companies, pushing distributors like SpotDraft to pursue architectures that preserve core contract intelligence on the consumer’s system slightly than routing it via the cloud.

At Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit 2025, SpotDraft demonstrated its VerifAI workflow operating end-to-end on Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops, executing contract evaluate and edits offline whereas retaining the doc on the native machine. SpotDraft stated web connectivity continues to be required for login, licensing, and collaboration options, however contract evaluate, threat scoring, and redlining can run totally offline with out sending paperwork to the cloud.

SpotDraft sees authorized as an early proving floor for on-device enterprise AI, arguing that delicate contracts usually can’t be routed via exterior cloud fashions because of privateness, safety, and compliance constraints.

“The way forward for how enterprise AI goes to be — proper now, there’s acquired to be AI that’s near the doc, which is privateness essential, latency delicate, [and] legally delicate, and people are the issues that may transfer on system,” stated Shashank Bijapur (pictured above, left), co-founder and CEO of SpotDraft, in an interview.

SpotDraft says VerifAI’s on-device functionality extends past merely producing summaries, with the instrument designed to use playbooks and proposals instantly inside Microsoft Phrase, the way in which authorized groups already work. “VerifAI will examine a contract towards your pointers, your playbooks, your prior insurance policies,” stated Madhav Bhagat (pictured above, proper), co-founder and CTO of SpotDraft.

Bijapur informed TechCrunch that the demand for on-device AI is rising most clearly in tightly regulated sectors, together with protection and pharma, the place inner safety evaluations and information residency necessities can gradual or block the usage of cloud-based AI instruments for delicate paperwork.

On-device fashions have quickly closed the hole with cloud-based methods, each in output high quality and response instances, Bhagat stated. “Now we’ve come to a spot the place, by way of eval, we’re seeing as little as 5% distinction between the frontier fashions, and a few of these fine-tuned on system fashions,” he stated, including that speeds on newer chips are actually “one-third of what we get within the cloud.”

Since its launch in 2017, SpotDraft stated it has reached greater than 700 prospects, up from round 400 in February final 12 months, and counts Apollo.io, Panasonic, Zeplin, and Whatfix amongst its customers. The corporate stated adoption is rising on its contract lifecycle administration platform, with prospects now processing over 1 million contracts yearly, contract volumes rising 173% year-over-year, and almost 50,000 month-to-month lively customers. It additionally expects 100% year-over-year income development in 2026, after rising 169% in 2024 and posting the same development fee in 2025, although it didn’t share particular income figures.

SpotDraft plans to make use of the brand new capital to deepen its product and AI capabilities and broaden its enterprise presence throughout the Americas, the EMEA area (Europe, Center East, and Africa), and India, Bijapur stated, including that Qualcomm’s involvement extends past financing into joint improvement and go-to-market efforts for on-device deployments. The startup’s on-device workflow is at present obtainable to a restricted set of consumers, and the founders anticipate it to broaden extra broadly as suitable AI PC {hardware} turns into extra broadly obtainable.

“SpotDraft’s skill to deploy their proprietary fashions securely on-device utilizing Snapdragon platforms represents a significant development for a privacy-critical business,” stated Quinn Li, senior vp, Qualcomm Applied sciences, and world head of Qualcomm Ventures.

Bengaluru- and New York-based SpotDraft stated it has a staff of 300-plus staff, together with 15–20 within the U.S., the place COO Akshay Verma relies, and 4 to 5 within the UK, with the remainder of the workforce in Bengaluru.

So far, the startup has raised $92 million, together with the newest Qualcomm Ventures funding. Its earlier buyers embody Vertex Development Singapore, Trident Development Companions, Xeed VC, Arkam Ventures, and Prosus Ventures.