Former DOJ head launches AI startup to challenge Big Tech monopolies

A new tool for antitrust

Jonathan Kanter recently stepped down as the head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. Despite leaving his government role, he is continuing his work to dismantle illegal monopolies through a new private venture. He recently launched a startup called FluxCap alongside former acting Antitrust Division chief Doha Mekki.

The company is staffed by a team of former DOJ employees and former Palantir engineers. They are developing an AI-based legal research and analysis platform specifically for plaintiffs. The goal is to help smaller legal teams build stronger cases against well-funded companies that currently dominate the market.

While the startup is launching with a primary focus on antitrust law, the team plans to expand into other legal practice areas. Kanter views the project as a necessary evolution for legal enforcement. He believes that technology is the only way for scarce resources to go further than they can today.

How the AI handles nuance

FluxCap is built using proprietary technology combined with existing large language models. The platform is designed to identify the specific facts and legal frameworks that determine whether a case will succeed. It is also trained to scan for potential holes in the logic presented by opposing attorneys.

One of the most difficult tasks for the system is sifting through vast piles of discovery materials to find evidence of anticompetitive behavior. Kanter notes that executives rarely admit to being monopolists, so the tool must find meaning in surrounding context. For example, it looks for subtle threats or veiled messages in communications between company leaders and customers.

The team spent months testing the system with both real and hypothetical cases to ensure it could handle these complexities. Kanter argues that lawyering is not about finding simple right or wrong answers. Instead, the tool helps lawyers persuade a court or a jury to reach a specific outcome by finding the most compelling evidence.

Closing the resource gap

The Antitrust Division faces a significant resource imbalance when taking on companies with trillion-dollar market caps. While the Division was appropriated $245 million for fiscal year 2026, its staff of 400 attorneys still pales in comparison to the massive legal teams of Big Tech. This gap is even wider for state attorneys general, who may only have 10 people working on a single case.

Kanter explains that the government is often outmatched by the sheer volume of documents and the depth of pockets held by private defendants. He describes FluxCap as a way to give small teams a virtual capacity that mimics a much larger workforce. He claims the tool provides the manpower of roughly 20-plus people working around the clock for a single team.

The startup aims to be a great equalizer for those who lack the budget of federal agencies or massive corporations. By automating the heavy lifting of research and document review, it allows smaller firms to go toe to toe with anyone. This shift is intended to make it more feasible for smaller plaintiffs to challenge the status quo.

From government roots to private tech

The idea for FluxCap originated during Kanter’s time at the DOJ, where the team tried to use technology to stretch limited resources. During the Biden administration, the DOJ pursued high-profile cases against Google, Apple, and Live Nation. However, the team found that basic legal tools like ChatGPT or Harvey often missed the nuance required for complex antitrust work.

While the DOJ secured a $45.5 million grant from the Tech Modernization Fund to improve case management, the team never had the chance to fully implement those tools before Kanter left office. He describes the current startup as being even more ambitious and better than what he could have imagined while in government service.

The startup has already begun its rollout by partnering with the antitrust boutique firm Kressin Powers. Kanter is currently in discussions with both public and private enforcers to bring the tool to a wider audience. The goal is to provide a scalable way for justice to keep up with the scale of modern corporate power.

The future of legal tech

FluxCap is part of a broader wave of legal technology designed to make the legal process more efficient. By using AI to handle the most labor-intensive parts of litigation, lawyers can focus on strategy and persuasion. This shift is particularly important for cases where the sheer volume of data makes manual review impossible.

Kanter acknowledges that technology alone will not solve the funding issues facing government regulators. He maintains that the government still desperately needs more budget and more headcount to stay competitive. However, he believes that AI tools are the most viable way to maximize the impact of every dollar and every hour spent on a case.

As the tool expands into other practice areas, it may change how many different types of legal disputes are pursued by small firms. By lowering the barrier to entry for complex litigation, FluxCap could shift the balance of power in the legal world. It represents a move toward a future where computational power serves as a primary weapon against corporate monopolies.

Try it

Watch

How FluxCap handles the privacy concerns of processing sensitive discovery materials.

Whether state attorneys general will adopt the tool to offset federal funding gaps.

The specific types of non-antitrust legal cases the startup plans to target next.