SeedLegals, UK’s Largest Legal Platform for Startups, Raises Series a Round Led by Index Ventures

SeedLegals, the UK’s largest legal platform for startups that makes fundraising simpler, 80% faster and significantly cheaper than traditional legal services, has closed a $4 million Series A. The round, which will accelerate SeedLegals’ international expansion, was led by venture capital firm Index Ventures with participation from Kima Ventures, The Family and existing investor Seedcamp.

Since launch in 2017, seven thousand startups have signed up to SeedLegals to manage the entire fundraising process and all related legal documents. The platform helps companies build and negotiate terms sheets, shareholder agreements, cap tables, stock option allocations, EIS approvals, hiring agreements, NDAs and more. SeedLegals has also introduced two new ways for companies to raise funding: SeedFAST and Instant Investment enable startups to quickly top up investment between funding rounds.

Around 8% of all early-stage UK funding rounds are now done on SeedLegals. Last year UK companies created over 27,000 contracts on SeedLegals, saving an estimated £4.5M in legal costs.

Anthony Rose, co-founder and CEO at SeedLegals, commented: “Our focus is on helping to simplify fundraising, and we’ve had an amazing response from startups who find the whole process quite painful. We’ve removed the complexity, unnecessary middlemen, standardised and automated the processes, and that has really resonated with both founders and investors.

“However, we believe fundraising is just the start. The same approach can be applied to many other legal processes through the journey of a business. The goal of SeedLegals is to empower all parties with data and a modern technology platform, letting them focus on building the business and serving their customers. ”

Hannah Seal from Index Ventures who joins the board with this round commented: “SeedLegals is making the complex process of fundraising straightforward for everyone involved. We closed this round on SeedLegals and have been impressed with the speed and ease of use. For startups who spend thousands on legal fees on agreements that vary little from company to company, this is an absolute no-brainer. The ambition is to expand the same model to other areas of business, helping startups retain legal budget for strategic work rather than administrative execution.”

SeedLegals was created by serial entrepreneur Anthony Rose, known in the tech industry for his work launching BBC iPlayer, and successful VC and angel investor Laurent Laffy, whose own portfolio includes consumer brands such as Graze and Secret Escapes.