NPIF investment accelerates Summize growth plans

• AI-powered software provider makes 11 new hires in the last 12 months, including two senior hires as a result of investment
• Summize meets legal market demand for digitisation by bringing new product to market nearly a year ahead of schedule with help from NPIF
• The company sets out future US expansion plans following the investment

Summize, the developer and provider of intelligent software for the legal sector, has bolstered team growth, product development and cross-border expansion plans as a result of a £500,000 investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, with additional capital from tech investor Charles Sharland.

The Manchester-based firm has created a platform, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, to meet customer demand for digital transformation in the legal sector.

The software gives legal teams the ability to upload multiple contracts and summarise their key points instantly in an easy-to-read summary. It also has a function for users to build bespoke clauses, making contract reviews more flexible and applicable to each legal team’s needs. The platform has been created to automate a previously time-intensive manual process, saving those operating in the legal space both time and money.

Summize’s innovative platform supports both in-house and private practice legal teams, focusing primarily on the corporate, commercial, employment and intellectual property departments. It is also suitable for corporate organisations with no legal function.

NPIF – Maven Equity Finance, managed by Maven Capital Partners and part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund invested in Summize in 2019. The impact on the company has been two-fold – firstly increasing staffing by taking the team from two co-founders to 13 employees. Two of these hires included a Chief Technology Officer and a Head of Strategy, with additional recruits to the technical, sales and marketing functions.

The capital has also allowed the company to develop its prototype and bring the platform to market 10 months ahead of schedule, by building its technical infrastructure and investing in more technology. AI and machine learning are now built into the functionality of the product, meaning contract summaries can be created more quickly and efficiently, eliminating the risk of human error.

Summize has short-term plans in place for the next six to nine months to scale its UK customer base and take its headcount to 20. Its two-year plan is to expand into the US and more than triple its headcount to 50 plus employees. 

Backed by a highly skilled management team, CEO and co-founder Tom Dunlop is an experienced commercial and technology lawyer, having previously held a position as global legal director for UX insights company UserZoom. He is supported by CDO and co-founder Dave Smith and CTO Richard Somerfield, who previously worked at AppSense as Senior Software Engineer and Principal Software Engineer respectively.

Tom Dunlop, founder and CEO of Summize, said: 

“We have a truly unique tech product that is set to transform the legal industry, so it has been excellent to have had the support from NPIF and Maven to recruit the expertise we need to bring the product to market quicker. It is already generating a buzz within the legal tech space, so the Summize platform is well-equipped for a busy 2020, with a new team and more software features. We are excited to see where it takes us!”

Grant Peggie, Director at the British Business Bank, said: 

“NPIF is all about helping businesses like Summize to help commercialise a prototype into a commercial product, but also to recruit the team they need to bring it to market. This investment demonstrates how this funding can make a real and measurable difference to growing innovative businesses across the Northern Powerhouse region, which helps create a more prosperous regional economy.”

Jeremy Thompson, Investment Director of Maven, said: 

“Summize has developed a platform with a large addressable market set to grow further as more businesses digitise their processes. The team is highly experienced with a range of knowledge across technology and legal sectors. We look forward to working with Tom and the team as they enhance the software and expand customer reach in the UK and overseas.”

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union, using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.

For more information about Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, please visit www.npif.co.uk.

ENDS

Contact
Amy Cantrill, MC2
[email protected]
0161 236 1352

About the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund

• The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund will invest in Microfinance, Business Loans and Equity Finance sub-funds which will offer financing ranging from £25,000 to £2m, specifically to help small and medium sized businesses secure the funding they need for growth and development.
• The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is operated by British Business Financial Services Limited, wholly owned by British Business Bank, the UK’s national economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity.
• The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Investment Bank, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and British Business Finance Limited, a British Business Bank group company.
• NPIF covers the following LEP areas: Tees Valley Combined Authority, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Liverpool City Region, Lancashire, Humber, Leeds City Region, Sheffield City Region, York, North Yorkshire and East Riding.
• The project is receiving up to £140,359,192 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.
• The funds in which Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund invests are open to businesses with material operations, or planning to open material operations, in, Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West and Tees Valley.

About the British Business Bank

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank programmes are supporting more than £7.0bn of finance to over 91,000 smaller businesses (as at end of June 2019).

As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses:

·         The Business Finance Guide (published in partnership with the ICAEW and a further 21 business and finance organisations) impartially sets out the range of finance options available to businesses at all stages – from start-ups to SMEs and growing mid-sized companies. Businesses can take the interactive journey at www.thebusinessfinanceguide.co.uk/bbb.

• The new British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to high-growth businesses about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success. The new site also features case studies and learnings from real businesses to guide businesses through the process of applying for growth finance.

As the holding company of the group operating under the trading name of British Business Bank, British Business Bank plc is wholly owned by HM Government and is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank operates under its own brand name through a number of subsidiaries, none of which are authorised and regulated by the FCA.

British Business Bank plc and its principal operating subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

About Maven Capital Partners UK LLP       www.mavencp.com

Maven Capital Partners UK LLP (Maven) is a lower-mid cap private equity house focused on the provision of growth capital and mezzanine finance to SMEs across the UK. It is one of the most active private equity fund managers in the country, managing over £415 million of assets for a variety of client funds, including Venture Capital Trusts, UK regional debt and equity funds, and Maven Investor Partners – a syndicate of institutional, family office and experienced investors.

Headquartered in Glasgow, and with ten other offices throughout the UK, Maven has nationwide coverage of the market for SME finance and is introduced to around 400 deals per year through 20 regionally based investment executives. With over 50 staff and partners, Maven executes a range of private company transactions, offers hands-on proactive portfolio management to investee companies and provides a fully integrated back-office support function to client and third-party fund managers. Since 2009 Maven has invested over £285 million in SMEs across the UK.

About Summize        www.summize.it

Summize started with a simple question – how could reviewing contracts be made quicker and simpler for legal teams? As a group of innovative problem-solvers, Summize developed their intelligent document review platform that instantly extracts key information from any contractual document and displays it in an interactive summary for analysis and comparison.

Whether you’re in-house or private practice, Summize allows the management of contractual reviews and key terms in seconds. With the export feature, you can even share and download your summaries.

Don’t just review it, summize it.