News UK, publisher of The Times and The Sun, has taken a stake in ClearDraft, an AI content-clearance platform founded in late 2025 by media lawyers Alex Wade and David Burgess. The size of the investment and the valuation were not disclosed.
ClearDraft, a legaltech startup that screens editorial copy for libel and other legal risks, has brought News UK on to its cap table less than a year after it was founded.
The company was set up in late 2025 by Alex Wade and David Burgess, who run it as co-chief executives. Wade spent close to 30 years as a media lawyer for national titles including The Times and The Sunday Times. Burgess was previously head of production clearance for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Netflix.
Terms were not disclosed. Neither the size of News UK's cheque, the stake acquired nor the company's valuation has been made public, and no other investors have been named.
The deal pairs a strategic investment with a customer relationship. News UK plans to deploy the tool across its newsrooms, giving the startup a flagship media client alongside a shareholder.
ClearDraft's software analyses text for patterns of legal risk rather than generating content. It produces a risk assessment and feedback before publication, allowing journalists to spot potential problems early and in-house lawyers to concentrate on more complex matters.
Among those matters are strategic lawsuits against public participation, or Slapps: defamation claims and legal threats brought against journalists and campaigners, often by wealthy individuals, as a means of intimidation.
The company pitches its product on speed and cost. Burgess said he had watched the platform review a 100,000-word book in minutes, flagging the same risks that would take a lawyer at least 15 hours to find. He said the tool integrates directly into editorial systems to handle the risk-flagging that slows compliance workflows.
Angus McBride, general counsel at News UK, described the investment as a natural step for the publisher, saying it would help journalists break stories faster and with greater confidence while freeing legal teams to focus on the most sensitive cases.
The investment extends News UK's engagement with AI. In 2024 the publisher signed a multi-year agreement with OpenAI allowing the developer to use its content.
For ClearDraft, a corporate backer that is also a reference customer can help open doors with other publishers, broadcasters and book publishers facing similar pressure on legal budgets.
The startup has not said whether it plans a larger institutional round. Its next test will be converting the News UK deployment into contracts with other media groups.
Original source: City AM — https://www.cityam.com/the-times-publisher-deploys-ai-legaltech-support-lawyers-and-reporters/
