CLM company, Filevine, has bought the far smaller contract management-focused business, Outlaw, in what is further evidence that the legal tech M&A wave is not slowing down. It also represents more activity in the CLM segment.
Filevine has around 300 staff listed on LinkedIn and is based in Utah, (which has become a bit of a legal tech hotspot all of a sudden….). It was launched back in 2015 and has a focus on: case management, project management, personal injury case management, and mass tort case management.
Its smaller target, Outlaw, is based in New York, and has about a dozen people listed on LinkedIn. It launched more recently in 2017. It has gathered around $2.5m in growth funding since it started according to Crunchbase. Filevine has received plenty more cash, hitting around $33m since it started, also according to the same investment data site.
As to what Outlaw offers, it says of itself: ‘Outlaw is a modern contract management solution that streamlines the contract lifecycle for organisations – from templated document generation to cloud-based redlining to real-time negotiation and eSigning.
‘Unlike other contract tools, Outlaw includes an advanced proprietary word processor which enables organisations to transform existing contracts into reusable templates that are error-free and seamlessly editable with dynamic legal logic built in.’
Filevine CEO, Ryan Anderson, said: ‘When we started to investigate the Contract Management space, it was obvious that Outlaw was the breakout product on the market. From their easy-to-use workflows and powerful customization for complex documents, they were simply a cut above. By bringing them under the Filevine umbrella, we will help all legal practitioners, whether in the corporate or private practice setting, focus on results rather than dealing with busywork.’
While Outlaw CEO, Evan Schneyer, added: ‘When Filevine approached us, the synergies were apparent from the start. Integrating Outlaw’s tech into Filevine will add substantial value for Filevine’s entire user base of 25,000-plus lawyers.
‘Now, they will have best in class contract management, with Filevine’s leading platform built around workflows, communications, and reporting. This union means a more complete solution, all customized, all for them.’
Current Outlaw CEO, Schneyer and Co-founder Dan Dalzotto will continue to lead Outlaw’s product development and will be reporting to Anderson, CEO of Filevine. Outlaw will continue to operate, but with additional engineering, customer success, and sales support from Filevine.
Is this a big deal? It clearly makes sense for the far smaller Outlaw to find a new home, especially in the world of CLM, which tends to favour large, well-resourced companies.
The move also makes a lot of sense for Filevine, again for the same reasons: successful CLM companies tend to be on the medium to larger side of the legal tech business scale. Adding Outlaw also brings in new talent, new product capabilities, and hopefully new clients from the East Coast.
As explored by this site, there is something of a battle going on now to be in the top tier of CLM companies and the competition is getting fierce. This move should help Filevine to keep its momentum.
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Update – P.S. f-ed up the first para earlier, clearly it’s Outlaw, not OpenLaw. Too many breaking news stories, not enough caffeine.