Robert Ambrogi Blog
We may all be working from home, but that doesn’t mean investment money isn’t flowing into legaltech — and particularly into legaltech for commercial contracts. This week, three companies, all providers of technology for contract review or management, announced financing rounds, raising a total of $26 million among them.
LawGeex: $20 Million
The largest of the rounds involved the AI contract review company LawGeex, which said yesterday that it had closed a $20 million round of financing, bringing its total funding to $45 million.
The round was led by Corner Ventures, a Palo Alto, Calif., venture capital fund focused on investments in leading growth stage technology companies, with participation from La Maison and the continued support of existing investors Aleph, lool Ventures and former Thomson Reuters CEO, Tom Glocer.
LawGeex says that it tripled its growth last year and that its customers include more than 40 Global 2000 companies as well as leading law firms three of the top five insurance companies.
“Contracts are the lifeblood of any business and we are using AI to transform legal, allowing lawyers to help accelerate deal closure and focus on more impactful work,” LawGeex cofounder and CEO Noory Bechor said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Corner Ventures to fuel this vision and continue building the greatest legal technology company in the world.”
LexCheck: $3 Million
The second company to announce a financing round this week is LexCheck, which is also an AI-driven contract review platform. The New York City company says it has completed a $3 million seed round.
Although founded in 2015, this is the company’s first venture round. It was led by the early stage investment fund Kli Capital (formerly known as BNSG Capital) and included participation by Howard Morgan, retired cofounder of First Round Capital, and Vivek Garipalli, cofounder and CEO of Clover Health, among others.
LexCheck says that its technology can accelerate and automate contract negotiations for companies of all sizes as well as for law firms. Among its features, it can automatically correct contract provisions, highlight issues for user review, and propose potential fixes.
It was founded by Gurinder “Gary” Sangha, a lawyer and serial entrepreneur, who previously founded Intelligize, a securities compliance platform that was acquired by LexisNexis. Prior to that, Sangha practiced securities law at Shearman & Sterling and White & Case.
“Successfully challenging the status quo and creating legal technologies that transform organizations have been the driving principles over the course of my career and remain our core tenets at LexCheck,” Sangha said in a statement announcing the financing. “With the help of our investors, we can accelerate our work and transform this sector even more swiftly and comprehensively.”
Malbek: $3 Million
The final company to announce financing this week is Malbek, a provider of cloud-based contract lifecycle management software, which closed $3 million in funding led by Philadelphia venture capital firm Osage Venture Partners.
“It’s a true honor to be part of the Osage Venture Partners family,” said cofounder and CEO Hemanth Puttaswamy. “The emphasis they place on collaborative company culture resonated profoundly with us. We have been a very disciplined team, innovating at a breakneck pace and signing numerous customers in the last few months alone. This capital will help us accelerate to the next level of growth.”
Malbek said it would use the additional capital to invest further in product innovation, expand sales and marketing, and expand its customer experience team.