Legal tech firm raises £6m to fuel expansion

James Quinn

A legal technology company based in Leamington Spa has raised a further £6m in a second investment round.

Clarilis, which employs a team of more than 50 people and opened an office in Singapore in February, said the cash will be used to support its ongoing growth and international expansion.

The funding has come from its existing investor the Northern Venture Capital Trust Funds (VCTs) which are managed by Mercia, and Gresham House Ventures, investing on behalf of the Baronsmead VCTs.

Gresham House Ventures, a growth equity investor specialised in scaling companies with business models driven by technology, has invested £3.5m and Mercia’s Northern VCTs have invested £2.5m.
The investment round is designed to assist in the company’s continued growth internationally, and fund its sales, marketing and product development functions.
Clarilis is a leading provider of automated drafting technology. Its CLARILIS platform saves lawyers’ time while ensuring that law firms and in-house legal departments draft consistently high-quality documentation.

Clarilis was co-founded by brothers James Quinn, a former solicitor, and Kevin Quinn, the technical architect of the CLARILIS platform and former lead developer.

Since launching to the market in 2015 the business now boasts a blue-chip client base including Addleshaw Goddard, Baker McKenzie, National Grid and Slaughter and May.

James Quinn, CEO and co-founder of Clarilis, said: “It’s fantastic to have the continued support from the investment team at Mercia Asset Management and I’m really pleased they’re backing us again.  We are also delighted that Gresham House has chosen to invest.  Gresham House were the clear choice here given Henry Alty and James Hendry’s in-depth knowledge of the LegalTech space and excellent insight.  The Gresham House team also share our vision for the development of the Clarilis platform going forward.

“This investment will provide the resources required to bring significant enhancements to our platform and to further scale the Clarilis team both in the UK and abroad.
“The uniqueness of Clarilis’ intelligent drafting platform and managed service is resonating with organisations globally – particularly as current market conditions highlight the importance of technology that can provide a strategic advantage.”

Henry Alty, investment director at Gresham House Ventures, said: “We have spent a long time looking at automation within professional and financial services. While the legal world has arguably been a late adopter of technology, firms are realising that automation is essential to driving both cost efficiency and resilience across distributed workforces.

“In Clarilis we have found an ambitious business with a market-leading solution and exceptional customer satisfaction as a result of its fully managed service. It exemplifies the type of technology-driven and scalable business model that our investment team look for. We’ve been impressed by the impact that Clarilis has already had in the market and as the business expands, particularly into the South East Asian market, we are excited to be bringing our experience to bear and to help facilitate its growth.”

Tim Levett, investment chairman of Mercia Northern VCTs, added: “We are pleased to be investing once again in this leading LegalTech business, particularly in this current environment where the rapid adoption of user-friendly consumer software has fundamentally changed user expectations within enterprise.

“Regardless of the complexities of any business process, elegant automation and consumer-grade UX are the critical success factors that have set Clarilis and its platform apart, especially filling the void left by legacy software in this sector.”

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