eDiscovery company, Exterro, which has expanded considerably since 2018, is aiming to go public perhaps as early as 2023, its CEO, Bobby Balachandran, told Artificial Lawyer.
The move follows fresh investment from Leeds Equity Partners, Coller Capital and Glendower Capital, and others.
The company said that after a substantial investment it was now worth ‘in excess of $1 billion’. When asked by this site how the company or investors had calculated this, Balachandran would not say. When asked what the company’s revenue is, the CEO also would not comment. In fact, the expectation is simply that we should accept that valuation number at face value on the basis that this is a figure the investors were working with.
Now, you can accept this, or reject it, as there is no proof either way. Given the company’s rapid expansion and acquisitive streak it may well be a fair estimation. Equally, it may not, and that is one of the problems the legal tech market is facing now – namely a lack of transparency when it comes to things like valuations. But, more on that tomorrow in Artificial Lawyer.
Going back to the IPO point, Balachandran, told this site: ‘An IPO is right around the horizon of 2023, but we want more rocket fuel [now] so we can swing for the fences in 2023.’
This site then noted that the IPO market for tech stocks may well still be very difficult next year. He replied: ‘If the market is still choppy in 2023 then we will be one of the key assets in the market.’
So, there you go. Clearly some legal tech companies are both doing very well and getting plenty of funding still.
The exact amount that the investors gave the company has also not been disclosed, which also doesn’t help when it comes to understanding the stated valuation – which could well be correct, we just cannot know for sure, nor how the company and investors got to that figure.