Clio Secures $110M Investment, Sees ‘Explosive Demand’ for Cloud-Based Legal Tech

Jack Newton, CEO and Co-Founder of Clio.

Add Clio to the growing list of $ 1 billion worth of legal tech unicorns. The cloud-based practice management technology provider announced today that it has secured $ 110 million on a $ 1.6 billion valuation during a Series E round.

The funding round, led by investment firm T. Rowe Price Associates with the participation of OMERS Growth Equity, takes place less than two years after Clio’s $ 250 million Series D investment round in September 2019.

With its latest investment, the Canada-based company announced that it will increase its workforce by 40% from its current 250 employees, with a focus on expanding its product and development teams. Clio also plans to use its new capital to acquire companies and create additional partnerships.

Over the years, Clio has updated its law firm management platform through in-house development and acquisitions. In October 2018, Clio announced its first acquisition, purchasing customer enrollment and customer relationship management (CRM) software Lexicata. Clio’s software updates also included a redesign Programming interface (API) in 2017 to integrate various legal technology providers into its platform.

Clio was not available at the time of going to press to provide details of its future acquisition and technical ambitions. However, in a press release, the company noted that further investment in its platform is needed to usher in a new era of legal advice and the sudden transition to cloud technology.

“The legal industry is in the midst of a rapid and massive move to cloud technology as law firms find new ways to deliver services to clients,” wrote Clio. “While these needs were fueled by events over the past year, the move to digital-first law firms is permanent as consumer expectations and behaviors change.”

“This investment is an indication of the explosive demand for legal technology that enables lawyers to be cloud-based and customer-centric,” added Jack Newton, CEO and founder of Clio, in publication.

In fact, many legal tech companies and consultants agree that COVID-19 has forced many cloud-resistant law firms to do so hug The technology as lawyers and employees worked from home. Even as governments begin to relax social distancing mandates, law firms continue to have a hybrid model in mind.

Clio currently offers CRM, customer admission and practice management tools that are used to manage documents, create calendars, track expenses and do billing primarily for individual practitioners and small businesses.

With its new investment of $ 110 million, Clio found that its announcement is part of a broader financial maturity in the legal technology market.

“With $ 6.6 billion in over 900 companies worldwide, Legal Tech is one of the fastest growing sectors for investors. Funding has grown exponentially over the past few years. Total investments increased from $ 1 billion to $ 2.2 billion between 2018 and 2019, ”said Clio’s press release.

In addition to securing further investments, Clio joins a small but growing group of legal tech companies that have reached a billion dollar valuation.

E-Discovery software provider in March relativity announced a valuation of $ 3.6 billion. After winding $ 500 millionLegalZoom.com Inc., one of the largest publicly announced investments in legal technology to date, was valued at $ 2 billion. CLM technology developer Ironclad (Contract Lifecycle Management) is almost close to unicorn status after raising $ 100 million in January after Reports.

While not every legal tech has become or will become a unicorn, legal tech companies continued to make huge investments in 2021. Along with Ironclad’s fundraiser in January, Rocket Lawyer, a small business and individual-focused legal technology company, announced they were increasing these $ 223 million last week, while CLM software provider Evisort approached an additional one $ 35 million in February. Legal management platform Athennian In addition, $ 5.5 million was raised during a Serie A renewal round that included Clios Newton’s participation.

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