MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- LexisNexis® today announced that nine new technology start-ups have graduated from its 12-week Legaltech Accelerator Program, which helps promising companies quickly gain traction in the rapidly evolving legal tech industry.
The Fall 2019 participants in the LexisNexis Legaltech Accelerator Program included:
- Civvus, an online marketplace and natural language platform for connecting consumers with trusted legal solutions
- ClearstoneIP, a platform for conducting product clearance, freedom to operate and patent infringement-based analyses
- Courtroom5, a complete legal toolbox for pro se litigants, including courses, workshops and a community of peers
- Discovery Genie, a discovery tool that simplifies document production and indexing
- DueCourse, a personalized, mobile-friendly professional development platform for lawyers
- JDoe, an anonymous, encrypted platform for sexual misconduct reporting and client outreach
- Lawgood, a practice resource for contract drafting with crowdsourced data and decision support
- Tusk, an online platform to automate estate settlement for surviving loved ones after a death in the family
- TermScout, tech-enabled, lawyer-driven solutions for contract review, including red flag reports, alerts and negotiating guides
The program was led by Jeff Pfeifer, LexisNexis Chief Product Officer for North America and Raleigh Technology Center Site Lead, Josh Becker, LexisNexis Head of Analytics and Chair of Lex Machina, and Owen Byrd, Lex Machina General Counsel and Chief Evangelist.
"It's an exciting time in the legal tech start-up world. This year's applicant pool was our largest ever, and we were able to select nine companies with real promise, more than any other year," said Owen Byrd. "Participants in the fourth round of our Legaltech Accelerator Program were deeply engaged in understanding the intricacies of growing a business and navigating the rapidly changing legal technology landscape. We look forward to seeing how this next generation of entrepreneurs apply their new knowledge and make their mark in the legal world."
As part of the program, participants completed a rigorous curriculum designed for early- to mid-stage legal start-ups, including business model development, fundraising, finance, marketing and sales, product development, hiring and team building, technology and more. In addition to receiving hands-on mentorship and training from numerous LexisNexis executives, start-ups had access to the company's cutting-edge tools, data and technologies. Legaltech Accelerator participants also benefitted from the opportunity to establish relationships with other prominent businesses and legaltech influencers, including venture capitalists Miriam Rivera of Ulu Ventures, Jeff Thermond of XSeed Capital, and Alex Nwaka of Touchdown Ventures; executive communications expert Surina Piyadasa; and Craig Peters, litigation technology analyst at Hogan Lovells.
"The Legaltech Accelerator experience was fantastic, especially in terms of business development and clarifying our concept," said Sonja Ebron, co-founder of Courtroom5. "The program definitely lived up to its name—we're on a faster trajectory now coming out than when we entered. We sped up our operations and we've become a lot more efficient in the 10 weeks since we began the program. We also got to pick the brains of investors and make other valuable connections. We now believe we can complete our two-and-a-half-year growth plan in 12 months. I absolutely would recommend the Accelerator program to other start-ups."
Ryan Soscia, founder and CEO of JDoe, said "I have attended other incubators in the past, but the LexisNexis Legaltech Accelerator was completely different. The program was game-changing for our organization. The other entrepreneurs and investors who presented spoke from deep experience. Within the first two weeks we got more revenue than we had over the previous two years. If you are trying to build scalable, world-class technology for law firms around the world, especially to unlock access to justice for millions of individuals, why wouldn't you want to learn from some of the most successful pioneers in this space?"
"The Legaltech Accelerator program gave us exposure to a breadth and depth of contacts that we could never access on our own as a young legal tech company," said Otto Hanson, founder of TermScout. "From introductions to potential clients to deck review, the executives provided great insight and super-valuable connections. They were able to introduce us to the right people who can help us get revenue in the door."
About the LexisNexis Legaltech Accelerator Program
Launched in December 2016, the Legaltech Accelerator Program gives participating companies a leg up in the rapidly evolving legal tech industry by leveraging the deep legal, technology and start-up domain expertise and the industry-leading market positions of LexisNexis and Lex Machina. Participants receive hands-on mentoring and guidance throughout the program, which takes place at the Menlo Park, CA offices of Lex Machina™ and at the LexisNexis Raleigh Technology Center on the Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University. For more information, or to apply to the next round of the tech accelerator program, interested parties should email [email protected].
About LexisNexis Legal & Professional
LexisNexis Legal & Professional is a leading global provider of legal, regulatory and business information and analytics that help customers increase productivity, improve decision-making and outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis® and Nexis® services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 130 countries with 10,000 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.
SOURCE LexisNexis
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