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AI for contract management
2020. ThoughtRiver nabs $10M to speed up deal-making with AI contract review
ThoughtRiver, a London-based legaltech startup that’s applying AI to speed up contract pre-screening, has announced a $10 million Series A. Other startups playing in the space include the likes of Kira Systems, LawGeex and Luminance to name a few. ThoughtRiver argues it has a different focus vs the majority of contract view companies because it’s focusing on pre-signature contracts — with the aim of making securing a deal faster. “Almost all others are just employed to pull data from existing contracts. ThoughtRiver is as much in demand by Sales teams as it is by Legal.
2020. DocuSign acquires Seal Software for $188M to enhance its AI chops
Contract management service DocuSign announced that it is acquiring Seal Software for $188 million. Seal Software was founded in 2010, and, while it may not be a mainstream brand, its customers include the likes of PayPal, Dell, Nokia and DocuSign itself. These companies use Seal for its contract management tools, but also for its analytics, discovery and data extraction services. And it’s these AI smarts the company developed over time to help businesses analyze their contracts that made DocuSign acquire the company. This can help them significantly reduce their time for legal reviews, for example.
2019. AI contract management startup Icertis raised $115M
Icertis, the startup that develops cloud-based software to help large companies manage contracts, has raised $115 million at more than a billion-dollar valuation to become the latest SaaS unicorn. Icertis lets users manage almost all kinds of contracts. Companies use Icertis’ products to handle procurement, sales and corporate contracts, including non-disclosure agreements. In addition to helping users create contracts, Icertis’ software also tracks when terms are met, ensures regulatory compliance and automates administrative tasks like sending renewal reminders. Its revenue is at about $100 million currently — another key area it intends to scale.
2019. ContractPodAi scored $55M for its AI-powered contract management software
ContractPodAi, a London-based startup that has developed what it describes as AI-powered contract lifecycle management software, is disclosing $55 million in Series B funding. ContractPodAi offers an “end-to-end” solution spanning the three main aspects of contract management: contract generation, contract repository and third-party review. Its AI offering, which uses IBM’s Watson, claims to streamline the contract management process and reduce the burden on corporate in-house legal teams. Customers include Bosch Siemens, Braskem, EDF Energy, Total Petroleum, Benjamin Moore and Freeview.
2019. Lexion raised $4.2M to implement AI for contract management
Contract management startup Lexion has raised a $4.2 million seed round. Lexion was incubated at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) that is turning out some of the best applied machine learning solutions, and contract management is a perfect example — it’s a huge issue for companies at every size and the demand for visibility into contracts is only increasing as companies face growing regulatory and compliance pressures. Lexion sees a big opportunity in the mid-market. Similar to how back in the 2000s, Siebel or other companies offered very expensive CRM software and Salesforce appeared. Now Salesforce is the expensive version and we have this long tail of products in the mid-market. Like most startups at this stage, Lexion plans to invest the new funding into building out its product — and especially its AI engine — and go-to-market and sales strategy.
