Doxly, the Indianapolis-based legal tech startup, announced Monday that it has raised a $2.25 million seed round. Investors include Nextlaw Labs, the business accelerator associated with Dentons, the world’s largest law firm; High Alpha Capital, and Hyde Park Ventures.
Doxly founder Haley Altman says the company did a soft launch last month with pilot customers, and will use the new capital to go live this week. She also says her company took High Alpha’s motto to “dream big, expect more, and move fast” seriously.
“We’ve been very busy; things have been in the works for a while,” Altman says. “We have an amazing team what works so hard, and what we’re doing is resonating. We’re eager to get the product into people’s hands.”
Doxly has developed cloud-based legal transaction management software with workflow and collaboration tools that are accessible by clients and their attorneys, as well as opposing counsel. (Think of it like customer relationship management software for lawyers, Altman suggests.) Doxly can help users tackle the diligence process, gather signatures, create closing checklists, and collaborate on documents. Doxly also offers transaction analytics and corporate practice management tools.
After working for one of the top law firms in Silicon Valley before moving back to Indiana a few years ago, Altman first had the urge to start Doxly in 2012. The idea was born out of a frustrating experience with a mountain of legal paperwork and a missing signature on a document that, she says, nearly tanked a multi-million-dollar deal. Altman realized there must be a better way.
Today, the five-person Doxly team is preparing to go live after spending some time over the summer hovering over lawyers and watching them use Doxly, and then adjusting the software
“We watched them use what we built without any instructions, and we were pleasantly surprised by how intuitive it was,” she says. “We were able to see where they got stuck, and what we should put in the training video. We made a few tweaks and had them use Doxly again, and we got amazing stakeholder feedback from across the firm—partners, associates, and paralegals. We’re confident now and ready for the hard launch.”
One of the law offices that piloted Doxly was Dentons, a global firm that is considered to be the biggest in the world. Dentons has now signed on to be a paying customer and the firm’s incubator, Nextlaw Labs, has invested in the product’s growth, which Altman calls “an amazing validation.”
“Bringing Dentons on as a customer is almost bigger for us than the investment round,” Altman says. “Nextlaw Labs is trying to reinvent the practice of law, and with Doxly, they saw an opportunity to be at the forefront of transaction management software.”
Altman says part of the seed round will go toward hiring enough staff to accommodate the company’s growth. “Our goal for the rest of the year is to launch in a number of firms and starting giving lawyers the chance to use it,” she adds.
