Warwickshire tech company Clarilis raises £6 million for international expansion

Clarilis, a private equity-backed Warwickshire technology business has raised £6 million to aid its expansion plans.

Clarilis has raised the money in a Series B investment round from its existing investor the Northern Venture Capital Trust Funds (VCTs) which is managed by Mercia, and Gresham House Ventures, investing on behalf of the Baronsmead VCTs.

The funding raised in this round will be used to support Clarilis’ ongoing growth and international expansion. Gresham House Ventures has provided £3.5 million and Mercia’s Northern VCTs have invested £2.5 million.

Clarilis was co-founded by brothers James Quinn, a former solicitor, and Kevin Quinn, the technical architect of the CLARILIS platform and former lead developer. The business now has a client base including Addleshaw Goddard, Baker McKenzie, National Grid and Slaughter and May.

Chief executive James Quinn said: “It’s fantastic to have the continued support from the investment team at Mercia Asset Management and I’m really pleased they’re backing us again.

“We are also delighted that Gresham House has chosen to invest.  Gresham House were the clear choice here given Henry Alty and James Hendry’s in-depth knowledge of the LegalTech space and excellent insight.

“The Gresham House team also share our vision for the development of the Clarilis platform going forward.

“This investment will provide the resources required to bring significant enhancements to our platform and to further scale the Clarilis team both in the UK and abroad.”

Henry Alty, investment director at Gresham House Ventures, added: “We have spent a long time looking at automation within professional and financial services.

“While the legal world has arguably been a late adopter of technology, firms are realising that automation is essential to driving both cost efficiency and resilience across distributed workforces.

“In Clarilis we have found an ambitious business with a market-leading solution and exceptional customer satisfaction as a result of its fully managed service.

“We’ve been impressed by the impact that Clarilis has already had in the market and as the business expands, particularly into the South East Asian market, we are excited to be bringing our experience to bear and to help facilitate its growth.”

Tim Levett, investment chairman of Mercia Northern VCTs, said: “We are pleased to be investing once again in this leading LegalTech business, particularly in this current environment where the rapid adoption of user-friendly consumer software has fundamentally changed user expectations within enterprise.

“Regardless of the complexities of any business process, elegant automation and consumer-grade UX are the critical success factors that have set Clarilis and its platform apart, especially filling the void left by legacy software in this sector.

“Mercia’s strong tech and SaaS investment credentials and experience combined with our ability to invest through the lifecycle of a business will be important to support the team at Clarilis as they continue to scale the business.”