Big Four accounting firm PwC has appointed eight startups places in its newly established legaltech incubator.

The programme, called 'Scale | LawTech', which launched last month, sits within the firm's wider tech operation and PwC will now work with the cohort to help them expand their profiles.

The appointments are significant, given PwC's size and history in the incubator space. The accountancy giant has run approximately 20 Scale programmes during the past two years, engaging for each programme with more than 30 corporate firms and industry experts.

Firms on the legal tech line-up include: AuditXPRT, a startup that offers AI solutions for regulatory compliance and audit; Capnovum, a cognitive compliance management startup for institutions impacted by regulations; and Cognitiv+, which uses AI to collect legal insights from contracts.

Intelligent contract review startup Lexical Labs has also been appointed to one slot, as has Contract Mill, which provides SaaS solutions for document automation, and Lexsnap, an AI-powered legal Q&A platform.

Completing the lineup are thedocyard, a deal management platform that manages the lifecycle of corporate or commercial transactions, and Scrive, which offers eSign solutions for businesses to modernise workflows.

The startups will now meet and pitch to industry leaders for commercial opportunities, attend group masterclasses and receive individual support, including coaching, and business support.

The Scale LawTech team is led by London staff Tom Hoskin and Jonathan Hollis.

The new cohort follow in the footsteps of the many startups being appointed to recently launched incubators, including A&O's Fuse, which recently picked its next cohort.