Luminance, the global leader in Legal-Grade™ AI for the enterprise, today announced the appointment of Jonty Koekemoer as VP, to lead the company’s new regional hub in South Africa and supercharge expansion across the continent amid growing demand.
Luminance has selected South Africa as a regional hub due to the country’s mature and sophisticated legal ecosystem, with leading law firms and corporate legal teams increasingly adopting AI to manage complex transactions, regulatory pressure and unlock new opportunities.
The move follows heightened local interest, continued global growth, and recent investment to support Luminance’s international scaling. Over the past year, Luminance has recorded 66% increase in subscription customers headquartered in South Africa, alongside a significant rise in deal volume and total contract value, reflecting growing adoption across financial services, energy and professional services.
Leading organizations in South Africa, including Sasol, OM Bank, Purple Group and Standard Bank, have already turned to Luminance to drive operations within their legal departments and beyond.
Sascha Graham, VP of Legal at Purple Group, said: “In a fast-moving, digitally driven financial services environment, speed, consistency and confidence are critical to maintaining a competitive edge.
“Luminance has enabled our legal team to work more efficiently across complex contracts while supporting the broader business to move faster and make better-informed decisions.”
Establishing a local presence will strengthen existing relationships and enable closer regional collaboration, faster support and local expertise, creating a platform for continued expansion into additional high-growth markets across the continent, such as Kenya and Nigeria.
Eleanor Lightbody, CEO of Luminance, commented: “Africa represents an incredibly exciting opportunity for Luminance. We are seeing growing demand from teams who want to harness AI responsibly to manage complexity and scale.
“Establishing a presence in South Africa allows us to better support our customers today while laying the foundations for long-term growth across the continent.”
Luminance’s Legal-Grade AI redefines enterprise decision-making, turning contracts from administration burden into strategic intelligence. Luminance’s multi-agent platform automates entire workflows, from creation and negotiation to risk review and compliance.
It understands clauses, evaluates legal and commercial impact, takes action, and learns from every negotiation, becoming increasingly attuned to your business. Trusted by over 1,000 of the world’s largest enterprises across 70+ countries, Luminance helps companies stay ahead of risk, seize opportunity, and outpace competition.
Koekemoer added: “Africa’s legal sector is at an important inflection point as pressure grows to do more with less, all while navigating increasing regulatory and commercial complexity.
“Luminance’s Legal-Grade AI is uniquely positioned to support this evolution, and I’m excited to help build our presence across Africa, working closely with customers and partners to drive meaningful, sustainable impact.”
A South African native, Jonty brings more than 13 years of corporate experience across Africa, with a strong background in enterprise technology, commercial leadership and market expansion.
He has held senior roles at AI-driven technology businesses, leading strategic partnerships and regional growth initiatives. Jonty holds a PhD focused on innovation and the future of technology in the African context, enabling him to combine deep technical understanding with commercial execution. At Luminance, he will be responsible for building the company’s African footprint and supporting the adoption of legal AI across law firms, corporates and the wider partner ecosystem.
