Athena, an AI-native legal technology startup focused on commercial real estate transactions, has raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z Speedrun accelerator program.

The company is building an AI-powered legal service designed to make commercial real estate deals faster and more affordable. Its model combines proprietary AI agents with experienced attorneys at an affiliated law firm, who review the work and remain responsible for the legal advice and documents delivered to clients.

Athena’s AI agents help review purchase agreements and loan documents, compare deal terms, identify inconsistencies, prepare redlines and draft client communications. The system also learns from previous transactions to reflect each client’s negotiating preferences. Attorneys make final legal decisions and approve all work before it reaches clients.

Instead of selling software directly to law firms, Athena charges a flat fee per transaction for legal services provided through its affiliated firm. This approach ties the firm’s revenue to efficiency, which is often a struggle for law firms that bill clients by the hour.

Athena was founded by Cem Ucan, Kieran John Keenan and founding engineer José Braz, who previously worked at legal AI startup Legora. The company says it has signed up 22 legal firms as clients within two months of launching its service. Its AI agents have also reduced attorney review times by an average of 70%.

Athena is targeting commercial real estate acquisitions, sales and financing, with plans to expand into new markets, property classes and legal areas. The company aims to help clients complete legal work more quickly while keeping experienced attorneys involved in the process.