North American-headquartered transaction management hub Dealcloser will today (20 June) announce a USD $2.5m funding round, co-led by existing investor Bryce Catalyst and with new participation from early and growth stage US investor Fernwood Holdings. This investment round brings funding to date to $3.8m following a round of $1.8m in January 2021.
The funding will allow Dealcloser to hire additional sales and marketing team members as it eyes growth across not just in its North American home territory but also Europe. Most of its customers are headquartered in North America but with global offices. In addition, the company plans to further develop the platform to expand its capabilities so that it can serve customers in other verticals.
Speaking to Legal IT Insider, co-founder and CEO Amir Reshef, a former Dentons associate, said: “We continue to invest in the markets we serve and to invest in the product. We’re becoming a market-leading platform and expanding and growing the team will mean we can move more quickly.”
Dealcloser, founded in 2017, is approaching 20 members of staff. In November last year it hired serial tech investor and adviser Jag Dhariwal as chief growth officer. Dhariwal is part of the advisory team at Bryce Catalyst, which runs an ‘operator for operators’ model, whereby investors take senior roles in the companies they invest in to assist and guide growth. Dhariwal, who was the co-founder and CEO of OLAP Vision, a business he successfully exited to Thomson Reuters in 2018, replaced Dan Wales, who is also part of Bryce but based in the UK.
Dhariwal said: “In the world of transaction management, it is becoming clear that it’s an area where law firm automation can help to increase profitability and enhance your reputation as well as reducing attorney churn. It touches many sides and because of that there is a growing demand and we’re investing in response to that.”
Dealcloser currently can’t name specific customers but Dhariwal said: “The majority of our customers are North American but global in terms of their business,” adding, “We are looking to expand further into Europe.”
With generative AI rightly or wrongly forming a part of most conversations in the legal technology space now, Reshef said: “Yes of course we’re thinking about generative AI and we’re excited about it, but we’re tackling a complex workflow and lawyers work in different ways. What we’re focussed on is making lawyers the most efficient they can be, and right now that isn’t touching AI. It’s important but we have to get the foundations right if we’re going to be the best we can be.”
With regard to the company’s plans to spread into different verticals, Dhariwal said: “We deliver a solution to solicitors that helps them close a deal and we have focussed to date on lawyers, but we see opportunities in additional verticals. This funding will enable us to service other verticals.” Banking and finance teams that collaborate with their legal advisers through the platform are a logical next vertical.
“Since our last investment, Dealcloser has grown from a promising early-stage transaction management platform to a mature all-in-one solution used by an impressive and growing list of firms,” said Cary Burch, CEO of Bryce Catalyst. “With this additional investment, we are confident that Dealcloser will continue on its journey to becoming the most-used solution of its kind.”
“We are excited to join the Dealcloser team as new investors in the company,” said Bill Glenn, a partner at Fernwood Holdings, and former executive team member with Aderant. “Having witnessed firsthand the market gap the product fills, we believe the company is well-positioned to continue on its strong trajectory and establishing itself as a market leading solution.”
Dealcloser has had a record-breaking year, seeing a 310% increase in deals created on its platform in the last 12 months. It has recently released integrations with DocuSign, iManage and NetDocuments.