Brightflag, an Ireland company whose platform uses artificial intelligence to help corporate legal departments better manage their legal spend and legal matters, said today that it has raised $28 million in a growth equity investment.
The investment was led by London-based One Peak Partners, an investment firm that specializes in growth-stage technology companies in Europe, with participation from existing investors Sands Capital Ventures and Frontline Ventures.
Brightflag says it will use the funds to expand its international footprint while accelerating product innovation.
This follows an $8.5 million Series A round in April 2019. The company launched in 2015.
“For the second time in the last 15 years, companies are grappling with the legal and financial implications of a global recession,” Brightflag CEO and cofounder Ian Nolan said in a statement. “Brightflag is providing corporate legal departments with unparalleled visibility into their operations as they work to maximize the strategic value of their spending.”
Brightflag’s product competes with legal operations products such as Legal Tracker from Thomson Reuters, LexisNexis CounselLink, and SimpleLegal.
Brightflag’s platform provides e-billing, invoice management, invoice review and accruals management. Its AI technology reads invoices submitted by outside counsel and highlights breaches of billing guidelines. Its software tracks accruals and work-in-progress and provides a variety of reports. It also tracks historical matter billing and uses analytics to help in negotiating fees.
The company was founded in Dublin under its original name Legalshine by Ian Nolan, now CEO and formerly business development manager at another case management company, and Alex Kelly, now COO and formerly an associate attorney at Matheson in Dublin.
Brightflag says that, despite COVID-19, it almost doubled its annual recurring revenue in the past year. To continue on that trajectory in 2021, Brightflag intends to hire approximately 60 new employees between its U.S. and global teams over the next year.
