Doc review company DISCO today announced a massive $83 million investment, giving it $135m in total investment so far. This the company claims is the highest level of investment any legal tech company has ever achieved.
And for those who don’t know DISCO, in a nutshell they are an e-discovery solution for compliance, disputes, and investigations.
As to what all of this means….well, it’s not too hidden – the money chaps are really starting to see how massive a market doc review technology has on a global basis in what is an annual $700bn worldwide legal market. Just a small slice of that – even a tiny slice – and the investors will be happy.
And, DISCO wants to point out that when they say legal tech – they mean ‘enterprise’ level legal tech, so this would still be bigger than Avvo’s former massive funding rounds.
But, as one eagle-eyed reader pointed out…..’What about Onit?’ Onit is a company AL has to admit never having heard of…..but which is in the legal tech space (just checked) and in January this year bagged $200m in investment, (see here) – bringing their total to $216.4m in funding, according to Crunchbase.
Ah…how short the moment of glory is….nevertheless, it’s still a huge kerching moment whichever way you look at it. And given that everyone was still on holiday in early January we can forgive DISCO for overlooking the Onit news.
But….DISCO’s spokesperson would also like to add: ‘From our point of view, Onit is very different from the venture round we announced today. As indicated in its press release, Onit ‘formed a partnership’ with K-1 Investment Management, which in our view is similar to an acquisition. Strategic investments and partnerships are quite different than funding rounds. DISCO’s funding (in this round and all previous) allow us to remain independent.’
So….there you go. It is still the largest total funding of a legal tech company….hmmm….or is it…?
The DISCO investment was led by Georgian Partners, a Toronto-based venture-capital firm with deep expertise in applied artificial intelligence. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, LiveOak Venture Partners, The Stephens Group, and venture-debt provider Comerica all participated in the round. Tyson Baber, a partner at Georgian Partners, has joined DISCO’s board of directors.
‘DISCO has raised $135 million, more than any other enterprise legal tech company. This investment reflects the market’s consolidation behind DISCO as the leading cloud ediscovery platform, and the growing customer consensus that cloud ediscovery will replace legacy ediscovery services vendors and software providers,’ they said.
DISCO founder and CEO Kiwi Camara, added: ‘DISCO’s mission is to create technology to modernize the practice of law. Great legal technology helps great lawyers and legal teams deliver better legal outcomes for their clients. We do this in ediscovery today; over time, we will do this in all areas of legal practice.’
Tyson Baber, Partner at Georgian Partners concluded: ‘Artificial intelligence is poised to transform the legal industry. As a trusted partner to hundreds of enterprise clients, DISCO is ahead of the curve in securely applying artificial intelligence.’
DISCO also opened a London office in October 2018 and said it plans to establish offices in Canada, the rest of Europe, Asia, Australia, and Latin America over the next several years……well, at least they have the money for that now!
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