Oakley Capital, a major European private equity investor, has acquired majority ownership of vLex, the international legal research platform.
The investment means that vLex will now have more resources available to drive its growth, including in the United States, and potentially to make acquisitions of other companies that will further that growth, a company spokesperson said.
vLex is unique among legal research services for its breadth of international coverage. It provides access to comprehensive primary and secondary law collections from more than 100 countries.
The company says it collection of case law, legislation, journals and dockets serves over 2 million users across Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean, and the Americas.
Its platform includes Vincent, an AI-powered legal research assistant that analyzes legal documents that users upload and finds relevant search results. It works in both English and Spanish.
See: Vincent Joins CARA, EVA and Clerk as the Latest AI-Driven Research Assistant.
Founded in Spain in 1998 by brothers Lluis and Angel Faus, it now has headquarters in London, Miami and Barcelona.
vLex says that it is profitable and has consistently generated double-digit revenue growth in recent years.
“Oakley has a strong track record of helping successful, tech-enabled businesses grow, through internationalization, product optimization and buy-and-build, both in Spain and abroad,” said cofounder Lluis Faus, who is the company’s CEO. “We particularly liked their entrepreneurial ethos and heritage, and look forward to working with the Oakley team as we deliver on our strategic objectives for vLex.”
Oakley says this investment will help vLex’s management accelerate their strategic goal of building a cost-effective leader in the fragmented market for legal research, through organic growth and M&A.
“vLex has all the hallmarks of an Oakley deal: a fast-growing, disruptive business model in a niche sector, led by ambitious business founders,” said Peter Dubens, Oakley founder and managing partner. “We look forward to partnering with Lluis and Angel to help them build a successful product in the global market for legal information.”
In 2019, vLex acquired Justis Publishing Ltd., a 33-year-old UK legal publisher with clients in more than 40 countries including the UK, Ireland, the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.
Earlier this year, vLex launched a Global News product, providing daily updates and coverage across the Americas, the Caribbean, the U.K., Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
