The legaltech startup revolutionising due diligence with AI

Deeligence is one of those businesses founded and led by people with deep experience and understanding of their industry, and who have been deeply frustrated by a problem within it.

Founders Elena Tsalanidis and Justin Hansky are both accomplished lawyers who have worked across high-value mergers and acquisitions (M&A) at large Australian law firms; deals that require a huge amount of due diligence and a whole troop of lawyers reviewing thousands of documents to identify any risks.

“That process is still, frankly, relatively in the stone age,” Elena says.

Due diligence is largely managed through a mishmash of spreadsheets, emails, meetings and messages.

“It’s not coordinated, it’s not cohesive. There can be 30 lawyers on a deal, and the senior lawyer managing it can sometimes spend a whole day just checking in on how everyone is going.

“That’s not strategic legal work, that’s project management.”

Elena and Justin could see the size and scope of this problem – one that is specific to this sector, but pervasive in law firms all over the world. Both founders also had experience working in legaltech scale-ups, and they could see a solution.

“We thought we should do this ourselves.”

Embracing AI in the legal industry

Deeligence is a collaboration platform centralising due diligence workflow management, removing the burden from team leaders, and reducing the risk of human error and miscommunication. Then, it uses AI to do “a first cut” of the legal work.

These are high-value, high-stakes deals, so there will always be humans in the loop, Elena explains. The AI, however, allows them to work more quickly and efficiently.

Reviewing a contract in Deeligence can take as little as 13 minutes, compared to an hour or more, for example.

For Elena, this distinction cuts to the heart of the conversation around AI in the legal profession.

“AI will not take your job,” she says. “But a lawyer using AI will.”

And this is only the start. With the capabilities of AI improving so rapidly, Elena foresees a “seismic shift” in the way due diligence is delivered.

She references that supposed quote from Henry Ford: “Right now, we’re building a faster horse. But in the background, we’re building a car; something that will manage due diligence in a completely new and different way.

“That’s what I’m super excited about: the future of how this work is done, and how it will change really, really drastically.”

Avoiding startup mis-steps

Elena says there was no better place to build Deeligence than Melbourne. For one thing, most of the major law firms have a presence here.

There is a robust and supportive startup community with a full calendar of events. And, of course, there is also LaunchVic.

In early 2024, Deeligence announced its $1 million funding round, including backing from LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson fund.

In 2025, the founders took part in LaunchVic’s Basecamp program, which helps fast-growing companies make good decisions for senior hires at this crucial point in their journey.

Elena admits to having made hiring mistakes in the past. She knows how costly they can be.

“We’ve worked with some wonderful people who we hired because they were so senior and experienced. Actually, what we needed was someone more in the weeds, more on the tools.

“What you burn is not only runway but time, and time is a precious commodity when you’re focused on winning customers and proving your value.”

Basecamp provided expertise, connecting the founders to mentors and leaders, as well as other entrepreneurs willing to share the mistakes they made along the way.

“As a founder, you’re perennially learning on the job, so that’s gold dust.”

Strong foundation for growth

Between professional networks and support from LaunchVic and the startup community, Deeligence has built a solid foundation in Melbourne; a perfect springboard for the next phase of growth.

The platform is used by “most of the major law firms in Australia and New Zealand”, Elena says.

The tech is being used by Lander & Rogers, with Deeligence also taking part in the firm’s accelerator program; as well as the likes of Hall & Wilcox and GrilloHiggins. 

Now, the founders are gearing up for global growth, with eyes on the UK and the US.

“Our ambition is to be the place where deal professionals manage every single deal in the world. Not only lawyers. If you’re doing a deal, it should be done on Deeligence.”