Definely secures $7m in Series A funding to change how the world’s top lawyers access and understand contracts

‍London, May 8th 2024, 09:00AM UK: Definely, a UK LegalTech company created to make legal documents easier to read, edit and understand, has successfully raised Series A funding. The $7m Series A investment round was led by Octopus Ventures, with participation from Cornerstone VC and Zrosk Investment Ltd. It also saw participation from well-known angels Claire Hughes Johnson, Comron Sattari, Ajay Patel, and Babatunde Soyoye join the cap table. Edward Keelan, partner at Octopus Ventures joins joins CRE Venture Capital and Zrosk Investments on the board.

Available via subscription, Definely’s suite of productivity solutions assists lawyers at every pre-execution stage of the contract lifecycle, helping its customers draft, proof and understand legal documents quickly. Headquartered in London, and with over 60 employees located globally, the company is now focused on adding to its existing base of 40,000 active users from the largest companies and law firms in the UK, US, Canada and Australia. As the company advances how it incorporates AI, it will also actively look to expand its highly-experienced technical team. 

“Before we built Definely, lawyers that needed to access information and understand contracts would use Ctrl+F keys, multiple windows, scroll through hundreds of pages, or simply print out documents so that they could reference all the information in one place. As someone who is visually impaired, you can imagine the challenge this represented for me.” It sounds like an obvious problem, but you wouldn’t believe how many hours law firms can spend just looking for the right information.” Commented Feargus MacDaeid, Co-Founder & CSO of Definely. 

Conceived after a chance meeting of two former Magic Circle lawyers, Definely’s co-founders have had a less-than conventional path to creating one of the UK’s fastest-growing LegalTech startups. Registered as legally blind, Feargus MacDaeid struck up an unlikely friendship with Nigerian migrant Nnamdi Emelifeonwu - when the pair worked together at law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer - that would see the pair develop technology that has now been proven to give lawyers significant daily time savings when working on contracts. 

The company, which in 2023 was named in the top 25 of the prestigious Deloitte UK Technology Fast50, a list of the UK’s fastest-growing tech companies - launched its first product in September 2020 and now serves a global elite of law firms and Fortune 500 companies including Allen & Overy (now A&O Shearman), Slaughter & May, Dentons, Deloitte, P&O Cruises and many more.

“Running Definely is the first thing I do when opening a contract. It is both a tool for reviewing and proofing, but more importantly, something I use in real-time when drafting and constructing contracts as a part of my job. This is what sets it apart.” Said Ben Brooks, a lawyer at A&O Shearman.

“Definely is a testament to the power of diverse perspectives and accessibility first in innovation. So we built the simplest delivery possible for our tech, incorporating it via a Microsoft Word Plugin so that it integrates with every lawyer’s existing workflow and tooling. It was this in part, that allowed us to become such an entrenched provider of legal technology to some of the world’s largest law firms and corporations so quickly”, added Nnamdi Emelifeonwu, Co-Founder & CEO of Definely.

“At Octopus Ventures, we’re backing the entrepreneurs who make it their mission to empower people and change industries for the better. Definely is a fantastic example of this – what started as a solution to improve accessibility in the legal industry, has evolved into a product that boosts productivity for all lawyers. By leveraging their powerful AI and strong relationships with companies like Microsoft, Definely is well-positioned to make significant inroads into this $60bn industry.” Said Edward Keelan, partner at Octopus Ventures.

One of the company’s products, Definely Vault, already deploys sophisticated AI techniques to create a taxonomy of a firm’s entire contract repository, extracting all relevant data and clauses to make information readily available to users as contracts are drafted and reviewed. 

—-ENDS—-

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About Definely

Founded in 2020 and backed by Microsoft and Google, Definely is a LegalTech company that makes it easier for lawyers to read, edit, and understand legal documents. Delivered as a Microsoft Word Plugin, Definely is easy to adopt and roll out quickly across legal teams.  

In 2023 Definely was ranked 23rd in Deloitte UK’s Technology Fast50 and is a previous winner of the Tech Nation Rising Stars Award. 

Definely’s customers include elite law firms and Fortune 500 companies including Allen & Overy (now A&O Shearman), Eversheds, DLA Piper, Deloitte, Ericsson and Barclays, among others. Definely is currently operational in Europe, North America, Africa, Australia and Asia.

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Media Contact:

Tom Lawrence: tom@mvpr.io

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Profiles of Definely’s Angels: 

Claire Hughes Johnson (previously COO, Stripe) , Comron Sattari (CTO, SecureDocs), Ajay Patel (CEO, HighQ), and Babatunde Soyoye (Managing Partner, Helios Investment Partners). 

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About Octopus Ventures

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Octopus Ventures is one of the largest and most active venture capital investors in the UK and Europe, investing in and supporting the people, ideas, and industries that are changing the world.

It has built expertise across seven sectors: B2B software, climate tech, consumer tech, deep tech, fintech, biotech and health, and has backed more than 180 businesses across the UK and Europe, including successes like Zoopla, WaveOptics, and Depop. Octopus Ventures invests in people and teams from as early as ideas on a page all the way through to the later stages of growth, providing capital, expertise, and partnership.

Octopus Ventures manages £1.9 bn for retail and institutional investors and invests £200m yearly. It is part of Octopus Investments, an investment company investing in the people, ideas and industries that will change the world. Hear from Octopus Ventures experts at www.octopusventures.com

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