On Monday, Clio, a 17-year-old Canadian regulation agency administration software program firm, introduced that it has agreed to accumulate vLex, a 26-year-old authorized knowledge intelligence platform, in a $1 billion cash-and-stock deal.
The announcement comes a few 12 months after Clio’s large $900 million funding spherical, which practically doubled the Vancouver, British Columbia-based firm’s valuation from $1.6 billion in 2021 to $3 billion.
vLex, which was largely bootstrapped till it was bought by non-public fairness agency Oakley Capital in 2022, has been a extremely sought-after asset, in response to Jack Newton, CEO and founding father of Clio.
Harvey, the AI-native authorized tech startup, tried to buy vLex a 12 months in the past, however the acquisition didn’t come collectively, as reported by The Information final July.
vLex is a precious property as a result of its database of authorized paperwork can vastly enhance AI fashions for legal professionals.
“Knowledge is among the solely long-term defensible aggressive moats an organization can have within the house,” Newton informed TechCrunch.
vLex competes with the Thomson Reuters-owned authorized database and LexisNexis. The acquisition comes shortly after Harvey introduced a partnership with LexisNexis, aiming to counterpoint Harvey’s AI with LexisNexis knowledge.
With the acquisition of vLex, Clio, which offers regulation corporations with time-tracking, invoicing, and digital fee instruments, is now successfully entering into the follow of regulation itself.
Over the previous few years, vLex has constructed Vincent, an AI mannequin constructed on prime of the corporate’s authorized content material database.
“AI goes to drive a convergence of what have traditionally been distinct classes of software program: the enterprise of regulation and the follow of regulation,” Newton mentioned. He added that Clio’s purchasers within the small and medium regulation agency phase will now have entry to Vincent’s AI capabilities.
Along with asserting plans to accumulate vLex, Clio mentioned it has reached $300 million in annual recurring income (ARR).