Clause & Libryo receive investment as we bolster our legal tech portfolio alongside partners Nextlaw Labs
Earlier this year we announced our partnership with Nextlaw Labs, the innovative legal tech venture development platform launched by global law firm Dentons, to find, invest in and support early-stage legal tech startups.
We are delighted to announce our investments in Clause and Libryo who will receive investment, life-long training, and mentorship from the Seedcamp team and Nextlaw Labs as a result of this global callout for startups using new technologies and processes to transform the legal sector.
Libryo – with a founding team from South Africa – is a SaaS platform built to overcome regulatory complexity. Libryo provides an intuitive dashboard which lists all legal obligations per the needs of its customers, enabling any person, working in any organization to understand the legal obligations in any situation.
Clause is a startup that is building an infrastructure for the next generation of automated and data-integrated contracts for enterprise. Through Clause’s platform, contracts are capable of being managed and updated in real-time through integration with the Internet of Things, analytics services and web-service APIs.
“We’re delighted to back both Libryo and Clause alongside our partners at Nextlaw Labs,” said Tom Wilson, investment manager at Seedcamp. “We’ve been on the lookout for disruption in the legal tech space and for companies to bring the sector into the 21st century and believe both Libryo and Clause have massive potential to be real market leaders.”
Over 80 startups across five continents applied for the program and underwent a thorough selection process consisting of a panel of judges from Nextlaw Labs, Dentons and Seedcamp.
“The quality of the startups that applied and the selection of two outstanding companies, Libryo and Clause, are a testament to the fantastic relationship between Nextlaw Labs and Seedcamp,” said Dan Jansen, chief executive of Nextlaw Labs. “This was a successful call out that resulted from Nextlaw Labs and Seedcamp’s unique and complementary assets coming together for the shared initiative of accelerating the development of a legal tech ecosystem. We see great partnerships like this as an important step in achieving our vision to reinvent the business of law.”
Both Libryo and Clause will benefit from Seedcamp’s life-long platform of learning and support as well as access to its unparalleled network of advisors. This will be enhanced with mentorship from lawyers at the world’s largest law firm, Dentons. The chosen companies will gain in-house training and expert guidance on how to build their business, develop their brand and raise capital to help them scale.
“Both Libryo and Clause have unprecedented applications in the legal industry which can be unlocked within Dentons as a global testing ground,” said John Fernandez, global chair of Nextlaw Labs, “Libryo harmonizes legal compliance, SaaS functionality and sustainability governance in ways that allow lawyers in any sector to navigate regulatory hurdles with greater finesse; and the API and IoT integrated document automation capabilities of Clause will revolutionize the way law firms and businesses handle contractual relationships.”
Peter Flynn, co-founder and CEO at Libryo commented, “We are delighted to receive the validation and business boost that comes from receiving co-investment from Seedcamp and Nextlaw Labs. The network has already been invaluable to us, with access to some of the top thinkers in the startup world at the moment – not just theorists but guys who’ve actually done the stuff. We expect great things from this partnership.”
Peter Hunn, co-founder and CEO at Clause, commented “We are building the future of legal contracting with data. For such an innovative product we needed value add at an early stage. With the right combination of mentorship, network, and expertise, Seedcamp and Nextlaw Labs are the perfect partners to help make our vision of data-driven contracts a reality.”
About Nextlaw Labs
Nextlaw Labs is a business accelerator focused on investing in, developing and deploying new technologies to transform the practice of law. It is an autonomous, wholly owned subsidiary of global law firm Dentons with physical and virtual locations in technology centers worldwide. Through complementary and strategic partnerships with leading technology companies, startups, other business accelerators and established legal vendors, Nextlaw Labs will invest in promising companies and develop a suite of new technologies that fundamentally change the practice of law, improving client service and enhancing client solutions. www.nextlawlabs.com
About Dentons
Dentons is the world’s first polycentric global law firm. A top 20 firm on the Acritas 2016 Global Elite Brand Index, the Firm is committed to challenging the status quo in delivering consistent and uncompromising quality and value in new and inventive ways. Driven to provide clients a competitive edge, and connected to the communities where its clients want to do business, Dentons knows that understanding local cultures is crucial to successfully completing a deal, resolving a dispute or solving a business challenge. Now the world’s largest law firm, Dentons’ global team builds agile, tailored solutions to meet the local, national and global needs of private and public clients of any size in more than 125 locations serving 50-plus countries. www.dentons.com
