Legal Geek takes a trip down memory lane, visiting our first-ever Legal Geek Conference in 2016 and the companies that graced our Startup Alley Where are they now five years down the road?
Lexoo
Started up: 2014
Who are they? Lexoo is a flexible legal outsourcing solution for in-house legal teams and high-growth SaaS (software as a service) companies. Some of the things they deal with are sales agreements, purchasing agreements, data protection, employment as well as managing multi-country projects like updating T&Cs or regulatory questionnaires.
Journey till now: In 2018, Lexoo raised $4.4m (£3.2m) in a ‘Series A round’ led by Earlybird, with additional financing from Forward Partners and Zoopla general counsel (GC) Ned Staple. In 2019, Lexoo worked with Harvard Business School to case study how decisions are made to start and grow a company – specifically with the SME and in-house legal market in mind. They run the popular newsletter The In-House Roundup, and also offer downloadable playbooks and guides for in-house legal teams.
Give them some love: info.lexoo.com
They’re sponsoring this year’s Legal Geek Conference, so you can also see them in person there!
Legaler
Started up: 2015
Who are they? Legaler is a video conferencing platform built specifically for lawyers and law firms. It provides end-to-end encryption, integrates with Clio Manage, and offers many lawyer-specific features (including truly private chat messages).
Journey till now: In 2018, ahead of their ICO (initial coin offering: the cryptocurrency equivalent to an initial public offering), Legaler raised $1.5m (£1.1m) in funding to build its distribution network for the legal industry. In 2020, they launched Legaler Aid, a charity to support social justice legal cases worldwide by matching clients with pro bono legal advice, underpinned by a tokenised incentive system. The platform uses transparent crowdfunding for social justice cases through tax-deductible donations.
Join the Legaler community: legalertoken
Or find out more: www.legaler.com
Hoowla
Started up: 2013
Who are they? Hoowla is a cloud-based conveyancing platform and case management software that improves caseload efficiency, automatically generates legal documents, and submits information to third parties such as HMRC and the Land Registry.
Journey till now: Since 2016, Hoowla has doubled their user numbers and revenue by a 100% year-on-year for the last two years and are on track for the same this year. They reached 80 million page loads in the app this calendar year already. They’re expanding to non-legal users of case management. Up next, Hoowla will expand the use of their bespoke digital signature functionality, increase their sales and market team, and plan for total world domination (according to founder and CEO Adam Curtis)!
Give them some love: www.hoowla.com
Leverton
Started up: 2012
Who are they? Leverton provides an AI-powered data extraction and contract analytics platform to help businesses extract and analyse key structured data from their corporate and legal documents.
Journey till now: Leverton is now trusted by over 200 of the Fortune 1000, the company’s secure platform includes pre-trained, proprietary OCR and deep learning algorithms that accelerate data discovery and extraction, speeding time to ROI. The platform is supported in over 25 languages, and have offices in New York, London, and New Delhi. Leverton transformed into a SaaS in order to meet the needs of the largest global real estate, accounting, consulting and financial organisations. In 2019, Leverton partnered with Brand Berger, a provider of real estate consulting services. And later in 2019, Leverton was acquired by MRI Software, a global leader in real estate software solutions.
Find about more about their AI: www.leverton.ai
Farewill
Started up: 2015
Who are they? Farewill’s aim is to change the way the world deals with death. Farewill uses smart technology to improve the processes surrounding death to make it easier, faster and fairer. They enable people to work from the privacy of their own homes in matters such as writing a will, applying for probate or arranging a cremation.
Journey till now: Farewill has achieved a number of accolades, including National Will Writing Firm of the Year, one of Rocketlist’s Top 20 Companies to Work For, Fintech50’s Hottest 50, and Sifted’s Top 9 UK Fintechs to watch, and more. They’ve been backed by the founders of Zoopla, Wise (formerly TransferWise), Headspace, and others. In July 2020, Farewill fundraised £20m to broaden their funeral offering as well as offered free will writing services during the pandemic to NHS workers. Farewill also recently launched a direct cremation service to the public.
See more of their offerings here: www.farewill.com
Kira
Started up: 2011
Who are they? Kira helps enterprises uncover relevant information in unstructured contracts and related documents. They offer machine learning models covering due diligence, M&A deal points, general commercial, corporate organisation, real estate, ISDA schedules, commitment letters, and non-disclosure agreements.
Journey till now: The company has a global presence with law firms, professional service firms, Fortune 100 corporations, and financial services. In 2020, Kira Systems launched Answers & Insights, a new-to-market capability in contract and document analysis. In February 2021, Kira’s co-founders released a book called AI For Lawyers, How AI is Adding Value, Amplifying Expertise, and Transforming Careers. In August 2021, Litera announced that they would be acquiring Kira. As part of the acquisition, Insight Partners, an investor in Kira Systems since August 2018, will continue investing and become a minority investor in Litera.
Hear more about Kira’s offering here: www.kirasystems.com
RAVN
Started up: 2010
Who are they? Now iManage RAVN, the tech is a cutting-edge AI platform that powers several applications to automatically organise, discover and summarise documents.
Journey till now: In 2017, iManage acquired RAVN. Together, they now many features, including iManage Insight (designed to assist in drafting pleading, opinions and research) and iManage Extract (designed to extract repetitive data from input forms or other structured data), both powered by RAVN. In 2020, iManage announced iManage RAVN Knowledge Unlocked, combining RAVN AI with knowledge management integrated with iManage Work 10.
Get the down low here: www.imanage.com
LexStep
Started up: 2015
Who are they? LexStep is an online platform designed exclusively for top lawyers. They leverage AI to match candidates directly with the best law firms without needing to use a third-party recruiter.
Journey till now: LexStep have been featured in the top industry publications, won innovation awards, participated in prestigious accelerators, and are facilitating interviews worth millions of pounds in salary offers through the platform each month. Read up on thought leadership and advice pieces via LinkedIn and other places online.
Give them some love: www.lexstep.com
XRef
Started up: 2009
Who are they? XRef was created to bring the benefits of technology to the world of legal drafting, intended to assist law firms in dealing with increasing pressures – such as the demand for continued excellence in legal drafting and for a more cost-effective service. They launched to the wider market in 2012, and by 2016 had accumulated over 20,000 users and Magic Circle clients.
Journey till now: In late 2016, XRef was bought by K1 Investment Management, a US private equity firm, for $10m (£7.3m) as a merger with document management system Litera Microsystems, of which K1 owned. One year later, in 2019, K1 would sell Litera, and XRef along with them, to HG Capital Trust.
Find out more about Litera’s offerings: www.litera.com
And that’s a wrap! Check out the startup family and find what’s best for you, using our Startup Map: www.legalgeek.co/startup-map
