Luminance could raise GBP 10m - GBP 20m round within coming year

Global News

26
Apr
2017

Editor

UK-based legal technology (LegalTech) company Luminance could raise another round of financing within the next year, according to Vanessa Colomar, a Luminance board member and a partner and the head of communications at shareholder Invoke Capital.

It is still too early to specify the size of the next round, but it could be in the GBP 10m to GBP 20m range, Colomar said. Luminance is not currently in need of funding, but it will talk to investors as it expects it will experience rapid growth within the coming months, she said. The company is still far from having conversations about the next round, she added.

Whether the next round will include new or existing investors is not yet decided, Colomar said.

The company is on a hiring drive for sales and marketing staff, and future funding would be used in part to support that effort, Colomar and Luminance CEO Emily Foges said.

Luminance raised a round of invesment from UK-based family office Talis Capital, which valued the company at GBP 20m, in December 2016. The size of the round was not disclosed. The company previously raised a GBP 3m seed round in September 2016, led by Invoke Capital, a fund established by Mike Lynch, founder and former CEO of UK software firm Autonomy.

Luminance provides machine learning (ML)-based software to automate M&A due diligence. Its technology is based on doctorate research conducted at the University of Cambridge. The company uses both supervised and unsurpervised ML to detect anomalies in contracts. The platform is language-agnostic, browser-based and can be integrated with data room providers such as Intralinks.

The company launched sales in September 2016 and prior to launch, worked with law firm Slaughter and May to test the platform. Around 40 Slaughter and May lawyers and support staff use Luminance for M&A, according to Luminance marketing materials.

The company has offices in London and Cambridge. It would likely establish offices in the US and Australia in the future, as it has had good traction in the US and the Asia-Pacific region, CEO Foges said. The company already has customers based in the UK, US, Australia, South Africa, Singapore and the Nordics, Foges added.

Luminance is also considering additional functionality, beyond the due diligence phase, Foges said. The company is considering adding smart and automated contract functionality, based on its global database of legal precedents, she added.