Global News
Contract lifecycle management disruptor Summize has secured £5m Series A investment from YFM Equity Partners (YFM) and Maven Capital Partners (Maven), as it looks to build its presence in the US and further develop its intelligent Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution.
Founded in 2018 by former General Counsel Tom Dunlop, Summize has experienced rapid growth by taking a disruptive approach to a traditional sector.
Its world-first Integrated CLM software is uniquely designed to make contract workflows smarter by digitising and automating manual legal processes, from contract creation and review to post-signature contract management. The solution easily integrates into the daily life of any business via established platforms including, Teams, Slack and Word, improving collaboration between in-house legal and business users.
Summize has more than 100 business customers worldwide, including blue-chip companies such as Fujifilm, Everton Football Club, Moonpig and Vodafone. It reduces the average time spent reviewing contracts by 85 per cent, allowing in-house lawyers to focus on mission critical business and strategic priorities.
The partnership with YFM and Maven will see Summize capitalise on the growth opportunity in the global CLM software market, which is forecast to reach $3.30bn by 2027. The business will expand into the US next year, in addition to supercharging product innovation, sales and marketing.
Tom Dunlop, CEO and co-founder of Summize, said: “The demand we’re seeing for our technology to solve a genuine problem, experienced by all businesses that deal with contracts, has been extraordinary. It’s clear that most businesses have a challenge when it comes to scaling contract processes and making the entire process much easier and faster. Bolstered by YFM’s support, we are in prime position to develop our game-changing approach to digital contracting even further.
“Digitalising the end-to-end contract lifecycle and integrating directly within the interface of Teams and Slack brings the in-house legal department up-to-speed with its more digitally advanced counterparts in finance, HR or sales. It makes contract processes accessible to everyone, and helps everyone understand each other better.”
The funding was raised through YFM’s British Smaller Companies VCTs and the Maven VCTs.
Mike Clarke, investment partner at YFM, said: “Summize are deliberately different and their disruptive approach stood out to us. They have developed a really effective solution to helping drive legal departments and processes on the digital journey, and one which is attractive to users as it operates as an extension of existing ways of working. The efficiency benefits are quickly apparent to clients with estimates that users of the platform save 85 per cent in time spent reviewing contracts.
“Summize also benefits from having a very experienced senior management team for this stage of the business, and a clear vision of where they are going. We are excited to be supporting them as they continue on their growth journey.”
James Darlington, Investment Director at Maven, said: “Maven is delighted to be backing Summize. It is an attractive opportunity for the Maven VCTs to invest in a rapidly growing business which has made strong commercial progress in terms of sales growth and new customer wins. We have been impressed with the ambition, skill and knowledge of the management team and we are confident they will continue to drive the business forward and deliver on their growth ambitions.”
The YFM investment team comprised Laura Sisson, Mike Clarke and Ian Waterfield.
Other advisors on the deal included: Graph Strategy (James Tetherton and Matt Harrison), James Bagan, Chris Waterhouse, BHP (Fletcher Adamowicz), David Gallimore, Vista (Peter Warburton and Daniel Blake), Shoosmiths (James Foster and Sophie Davies), Catalysis (Mike Hicks), Philip Hare & Associates (Philip Hare and Tom Hopley) and Pannone (Mark Winthorpe and Miranda Foy).
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