Clio closes blockbuster investment for $250M; CEO says it’s a ‘historic moment’
Cloud-based practice management company Clio announced a $250 million Series D funding round, one of the largest in the legal technology space.
Clio CEO and co-founder Jack Newton said it’s a “historic moment,” and this round is the largest venture capital investment in Canadian history, which was announced Wednesday.
“We’ve really put Vancouver on the North American map as an emerging tech hub,” Newton said in a podcast interview with legal tech blogger Bob Ambrogi recorded at the company’s Vancouver, British Columbia, headquarters. “And it’s obviously a huge deal for legal tech.”
While LegalZoom raised $500 million in 2018 as a secondary investment, few others have seen the numbers Clio received this week.
Clio CEO and co-founder Jack Newton.
The round was led by growth equity companies TCV and JMI Equity. TCV’s portfolio includes Airbnb, Facebook, LinkedIn and Netflix but also legal technology brands such as Avvo and LegalZoom. JMI invests in a broad selection of sectors, including advertising, cloud and government.
“This investment will accelerate our ability, together, to make legal services accessible while also ensuring law firms thrive in the process,” Newton wrote in a blog post.
In his interview with Ambrogi, Newton said this investment will help improve their software and help attorneys tap into the latent legal market, those who have a legal problem but don’t seek legal help.
Also announced this week, Avvo founder Mark Britton is joining Clio’s board. Britton sold Avvo to Internet Brands last year for an undisclosed sum.
In two previous funding rounds, Clio raised $26 million, according to Crunchbase.
