FEATURE
AI trailblaizers- husbandand-wife duo Rob and Ali Boville are leading Teesside’ s AI revolution with their businesses, BearTech and Automate Legal.
AI visionaries
How BearTech and Automate Legal are redefining LegalTech from Teesside
WORDS: SARAH DALE PICTURE: CHRIS BOOTH
Many happy company owners will say their clients are out of this world – but for BearTech owners Rob and Ali Boville, it is quite literally the case.
Founded just 18 months ago in the heart of Teesside, BearTech has rapidly become one of the UK’ s most exciting technology consultancies with clients that include space agency NASA.
Established by husband-and-wife team Rob and Ali, BearTech was built with a bold vision: to help businesses solve complex problems with cutting-edge, practical AI. The company has already grown from the founding duo to a 22-strong team( and counting) and won major awards including Newcomer of the Year at the Tees Tech Awards 2025 and Technology Business of the Year at the Tyne and Wear Business Awards 2024.
But BearTech is just one part of their story. Rob and Ali are also behind Automate Legal, a dedicated legal technology platform that uses proprietary AI to automate the cost drafting process- a critical but highly manual task across the legal industry.
Their flagship platform, Jurana, is already in use by five UK law firms. Built to handle vast legal case files, adapted from the Latin root word " jur " meaning " law ", Jurana can draft compliant, accurate cost documents in minutes instead of months. Its early users have described the interface as intuitive and modern, while feedback from beta testing has shaped the roadmap for even broader legal applications, including residential conveyancing, probate, and mergers and acquisitions.
“ Jurana has taken on a life of its own,” says Rob, Automate Legal’ s CEO.“ We started by helping firms of solicitors save time, but now we’ re building a fully AI-powered legal drafting ecosystem. Our goal is to power 40 % of the UK market within the next five years.”
Rob has worked on a range of projects, from partnering with Amazon to create an AI-powered smart pallet system for warehouse logistics to an AI-driven inner earth collision detection to protect astronauts for NASA.
Ali has worked in senior leadership teams in learning and development and people and culture roles. The couple’ s combined expertise and shared desire to leave the corporate world and go into business together led to BearTech, the meaning of which is two-fold – a play on the tech term " bare-metal server " and CEO Ali’ s nickname for Rob.
“ Culture is non-negotiable for us,” Ali explains.“ We don’ t just want to grow fast, we want to grow right. That means creating opportunities for North-East talent, building from our local base and proving that Teesside can compete with the best in the world.”
BearTech is already proving exactly that. The firm has delivered AI strategy and implementation projects for major clients across the UK and abroad, offering an end-to-end service that includes everything from initial scoping and cloud architecture to the development of production-ready AI systems.
What sets BearTech apart is its ability to bridge the gap between technical depth and business outcomes, creating solutions that deliver real ROI, not just innovation for innovation’ s sake.
“ We’ re here to build nationally significant businesses and we’ re doing it from Teesside,” says Rob.“ This region is full of talent and collaboration. We’ ve been helped by so many people who expected nothing in return. That spirit has defined our journey so far.”
With investor interest in Automate Legal growing and BearTech set to expand again this year, Rob and Ali have their eyes set firmly on the future, but their roots remain right here in the North-East.
“ We believe in this place,” says Ali.“ And we believe the next billion-pound tech company can be built from here.”
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