Manchester-based developer and provider of software for the legal sector Summize has secured an additional £1m investment in a funding round led by NPIF – Maven Equity Finance.
NPIF – Maven Equity Finance, which is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and managed by Maven Capital Partners, originally invested £500,000 in Summize in March 2019.
This follow-on investment includes £500,000 from the UK Government’s Future Fund and additional capital from tech investor Charles Sharland. It will help the business to grow its customer base both at home and overseas.
Established in 2018, Summize is a lightweight piece of software used in the contract lifecycle by both in-house and private practice legal teams, as well as SMEs. The software enables users to upload multiple contracts and summarise key points instantly, saving clients up to 85 per cent in time cost per review. It also allows users to build bespoke clauses, making the contract review process more flexible and relevant to each legal team or business’ needs.
While the Summize software is aimed primarily in the legal space, it is also suitable for corporate organisations with no legal function. Its clients include Brabners, Elior, Zuto and UserZoom.
The business plans to utilise this latest funding to expand its client base, develop its product with additional features, and fine-tuning its sales and marketing strategy.
Summize is also diversifying into managed services, which will enable law firms to extend the company’s AI and machine learning-driven software to their own clients.
Tom Dunlop, founder and CEO at Summize, said: “Since bringing our product to market, we’ve seen an incredible demand for our services that has only accelerated, despite the current economic climate.
“As a result, we’ve welcomed a roster of new clients at home and overseas and have been able to start diversifying our offering with a new partner programme and managed contract service.
“The funding we’ve received so far has been instrumental in this, and this latest investment will help us to continue developing our approach and growing our client base.”
Jeremy Thompson, investment director at Maven, said: “Since its inception in 2018, Summize has gone from strength to strength and the phenomenal growth it’s seen since launching its product meant that deciding to back them again was easy.
“We’re looking forward to using our own expertise and experience to help it take the next step in its ambitious growth journey over the coming years.”
Grant Peggie, Director at the British Business Bank, said: “”NPIF is making a real difference in reducing the regional funding gap between the North and the South by providing a variety of finance solutions that help innovative businesses in the North such as Summize realise their growth ambitions. This is particularly important as we seek to rebuild the economy and help protect and create skilled jobs across the North”
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.
For more information about Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, please visit www.npif.co.uk.
Contact
Amy Cantrill, MC2
0161 236 1352
About the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund
- The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund will invest in Microfinance, Business Loans and Equity Finance sub-funds which will offer financing ranging from £25,000 to £2m, specifically to help small and medium sized businesses secure the funding they need for growth and development.
- The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is operated by British Business Financial Services Limited, wholly owned by British Business Bank, the UK’s national economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity.
- The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Investment Bank, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and British Business Finance Limited, a British Business Bank group company.
- NPIF covers the following LEP areas: Tees Valley Combined Authority, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Liverpool City Region, Lancashire, Humber, Leeds City Region, Sheffield City Region, York, North Yorkshire and East Riding.
- The project is receiving up to £140,359,192 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.
- The funds in which Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund invests are open to businesses with material operations, or planning to open material operations, in, Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West and Tees Valley.
About Summize
Summize was founded in 2018 by a team of passionate problem solvers, who continuously look for ways to improve and streamline complex processes used by legal teams. Our platform instantly creates a summary of any uploaded contract, no matter how unique.
Summize’s AI analyses contracts intelligently, identifying and managing key terms, while our table view lets users manage contracts in one location, across multiple contract types. We also offer an easy-to-use Add-In that can be used directly through Microsoft Word to find and define clauses at every stage.
Understand, manage, and review contracts your way. Don’t just review it, Summize it.
For more information, visit Summize