Paris-based DiliTrust, which focuses on governance solutions for inhouse teams, as well as providing a CLM system, has received €130m (£110m) in funding – in another major investment into a legal tech company serving the inhouse world.
DiliTrust is something of an ‘all-in-one’ platform, with several key parts covering the management of legal entities, contracts, and disputes. It also has a collaborative document library / DMS. I.e. if you have this then it should cover a large swathe of the inhouse team’s needs, or at least that’s the idea.
In terms of their CLM module, they explain that it ‘allows you to digitally store and manage your contracts and all related attachments such as document versions, amendments, and appendices, in one centralised and intuitive CLM portal [and also provides] digital watermarking, time-stamped alerts, and document annotations’.
Cathay Capital, Eurazeo and Sagard were major investors in this €130m round for the company, which started back in 1995.
Although perhaps not so well known in the US and UK, DiliTrust has a very significant client list including AccorHotels, Royal Bank of Canada, BNP Paribas, Bouygues, Capgemini, Commercial Bank of Dubai, EDF, LVMH, Renault, SNCF, Société Générale, Transports de Montréal, Veolia and Vivendi.
In short, this is a company working with multiple major companies, from Canada to the Middle East, and clearly several of the largest businesses in France, many of which have a global footprint, such as LVMH, Renault, Veolia and Vivendi.
DiliTrust currently employs more than 170 staff worldwide, with revenues of around €20m (£17m) in 2021, half of which was generated internationally. The company has also recorded annual growth of more than 30% in recent years.
It’s also noteworthy that, at least as far as can be seen from public sources such as Crunchbase, the company has not had a huge amount of venture capital over its long lifetime, so this surge of money now would appear to be part of the wider trend for investing in this type of company.
They added that the new money ‘will enable DiliTrust to accelerate its growth, both organically and through acquisitions, and to support its ongoing innovation, and international expansion. The company also plans to carry out a significant recruitment initiative over the next twelve months’.
The bit about DiliTrust using some of the money to buy other companies is especially noteworthy….!
Commenting on the investment, Yves Garagnon, CEO of DiliTrust, said: ‘This is a recognition of DiliTrust’s performance and reinforces its ambition to be the leader in solutions for legal departments thanks to its unique positioning.
‘We work closely with corporate lawyers to anticipate their needs. We offer them the means to make a difference and efficiently manage key data required to make informed decisions. With the most comprehensive suite on the market, we give them the opportunity to create value for their organization. Additionally, our customers love the user experience.’
All in all, it just goes to show that when it comes to serving the needs of inhouse legal teams there is now a huge belief from investors that companies in this space will find a welcoming client base and that they will rapidly grow. We shall see.