CLM Agiloft Buys Screens, TermScout Will Continue

In a very genAI-focused move, CLM pioneer Agiloft has bought startup Screens, the brainchild of Otto Hanson and Evan Harris. The founders’ sister company, TermScout, will however live on independently without them at the helm.

As readers of Artificial Lawyer will know, Screens has been doing pioneering work on genAI and contracts, especially by developing playbooks that can represent the standards of a particular inhouse legal team, and then show accurate redlines and what changes should be made to conform to those standards. They’ve also developed a community where people can share their contract standards with the rest of the market.

Plus, they’ve also been really focused on genAI accuracy and being transparent about it. In fact, they’ve been one of the few companies to be open about genAI accuracy. See here:

In short, Screens has really been doing a lot at the cutting edge of legal genAI and contracts. So, it’s no surprise they’ve been snapped up by a larger player. Although this site didn’t expect it to happen so soon.

As part of the deal six of the staff, including Hanson and CTO Harris will come over. The Screens brand will also live on and be sold on its own, although it will also be integrated into the main Agiloft tech stack. TermScout will continue on its own way and it is now looking for a new CEO – see interview with Otto Hanson below.

Artificial Lawyer also spoke to Andy Wishart, the UK-based CPO at Agiloft, about the deal. He stressed two key parts of the deal: the ability to easily create and provide standard playbooks to users, and then the community forum aspect that allows users to share their playbooks more widely.

‘The community aspect really gets us excited. It brings together industry experts [on contract standards] and gives our customers access to these. There is the access to market data and insight [the playbooks] give into what is happening in the market.’

And it’s worth mentioning here, genAI needs data. So, if you have a community sharing lots of high-value contract standards, which change as the market evolves, then you may be able to refine your genAI tools to perform better.

Wishart also noted that: ‘They have shown confidence in their AI accuracy through the studies they did.’

And of course, at the core of this is the ability to improve contract review for inhouse teams. As Wishart noted: ‘Automated AI contract review is really a key part [of the deal].’

He added that ‘this is a really pivotal moment for us’ and the deal will combine well with its existing prompt lab and own AI review capabilities.

‘Screens fits well with our ethos. It accelerates that play,’ he concluded.

Meanwhile, Otto Hanson, CEO and founder of Screens, and outgoing CEO of TermScout, told Artificial Lawyer:

‘Yes, TermScout remains and will continue to grow and expand. I am remaining on the board of directors there to help oversee things from the board level. A number of tenured TermScout employees remain there and are continuing to focus on Certify, TermScout’s flagship product and its associated market data assets. We’re in late stage discussions with a few proven CEOs.

‘Selling Screens to Agiloft makes a lot of sense for a few reasons: tremendous cultural alignment between our two organizations, shared vision for how to make contracts simpler and more useful for businesses, and a bet by our team and investors that point solutions like Screens make more sense as part of a combined offering inside of CLM than on their own. It helps that Eric Laughlin [the CEO] and the whole team at Agiloft have built an incredible culture and an amazing product that their customers truly love.’

So, there you go. A big move with a small, but really pioneering company.

What does it all mean?

Well, it’s a smart move by Agiloft. The strategic window of opportunity to get ahead in the genAI-related CLM battle will not be endless. Companies such as ContractPodAi have been investing heavily in genAI-driven capabilities, and have recently allied with KPMG to offer their services for contract review. Meanwhile, Icertis has done a tech-sharing deal with genAI pioneer Harvey, and DocuSign bought Lexion.

Meanwhile, Spellbook, another genAI pioneer, is now offering playbooks to inhouse teams for contract review, RobinAI – which includes a managed services team – is expanding globally in the US and Singapore, and Juro is also expanding its offering around contract management.

In short, there is some serious jostling going on in the CLM and inhouse contract review field and Agiloft hopes that the addition of Screens’ tech and team will provide a useful advantage. And it probably will.

The next question is what is the next move in the market?