Blue J Legal, the Toronto company whose AI answers tax research questions, has raised $176 million USD (about $249 million CAD) in a round led by Baltimore’s JMI Equity, The Globe and Mail first reported. The deal values the company at $700 million USD (about $990 million CAD).

Returning investors Oak HC/FT and Sapphire Ventures, which co-led Blue J’s $122-million USD round last year, are in again, along with Canadian AI investor Intrepid Growth Partners.

Most of it is a payout

Nearly $100 million USD of the round buys shares from employees and early investors, per the Globe. That makes it, in large part, a secondary sale: a way for people who built the company to cash out some of their stake without an IPO or acquisition. Blue J plans to use its share of the money to sell its new agent products, expand in the U.K. (its third market after Canada and the U.S.), and grow internationally.

What Blue J does

The company spun out of the University of Toronto in 2015. Tax law professor Benjamin Alarie founded it with Albert Yoon and Anthony Niblett. Its software answers tax research questions in about 10 seconds for accountants and tax lawyers, drawing on data it licenses from the publisher Tax Notes. Individual plans start at $1,498 USD a year (about $2,100 CAD).

The growth numbers the Globe reports:

  • More than 6,500 client firms, up from just over 1,000 at the end of 2024 and fewer than 100 three years ago
  • Annual recurring revenue up 165 per cent since its August 2025 round, now in the “mid-eight-figure range”
  • Error rates down about 80 per cent this year

Next up is software that goes beyond answers to drafting work, including memos and notices of assessment. “We can now confidently deliver an answer to just about any tax research question,” Alarie told the Globe.

Blue J hadn’t posted its own announcement when we published.

Why it matters: It’s a large round for a narrow, practical AI tool that professionals already pay for, not a general chatbot. And it lets a Toronto company’s early employees and investors cash out while it stays private.