Startups can be big business for the law firms that serve them. The average startup company spends about $77,000 per year on legal costs, a recent report by Kruze Consulting found. The report analyzed over $18 million worth of legal spend by over 140 U.S. startups the agency works with, and found the following firms land at the top of the list in terms of revenue from startup clients. Healy Jones, vice president of marketing at Kruze Consulting, said that the data was provided anonymously by startups in Seed, Series A and Series B funding stages. These startups analyzed their legal spend on a range of services, which varied by company depending on their industry, IP needs, funding round and company-specific HR issues. On average, the startups said they spend $77,150 on legal fees per year, though that may be skewed by top spenders—median legal spend per startup was $38,990. "It proves why these law firms want to take the startup market, it is a sizable check," Jones said. When dividing them up by industries, the report found that health care companies, as well as those in the hardware space, are known for spending a significant amount on legal costs. It should be noted, however, that the analysis excluded most companies' litigation costs. The report also said many startups work with more than just one legal service provider, choosing firms with expertise in areas like immigration, employment law, intellectual property, or other disciplines as needed. The top five firms based on the number of their clients is a very similar list to the top firms by revenue share, but with Goodwin Procter making an appearance instead of Perkins Coie.