Contract lifecycle management disruptor Summize has secured £5m Series A investment from YFM Equity Partners (YFM) and Maven Capital Partners (Maven), as it looks to build its presence in the US and further develop its intelligent Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) solution.

Founded in 2018 by former General Counsel Tom Dunlop, Summize has experienced rapid growth by taking a disruptive approach to a traditional sector. 

Its world-first Integrated CLM software is uniquely designed to make contract workflows smarter by digitising and automating manual legal processes, from contract creation and review to post-signature contract management. The solution easily integrates into the daily life of any business via established platforms including, Teams, Slack and Word, improving collaboration between in-house legal and business users.

Summize has more than 100 business customers worldwide, including blue-chip companies such as Fujifilm, Everton Football Club, Moonpig and Vodafone. It reduces the average time spent reviewing contracts by 85 per cent, allowing in-house lawyers to focus on mission critical business and strategic priorities. 

The partnership with YFM and Maven will see Summize capitalise on the growth opportunity in the global CLM software market, which is forecast to reach $3.30bn by 2027. The business will expand into the US next year, in addition to supercharging product innovation, sales and marketing.

Tom Dunlop, CEO and co-founder of Summize, said: “The demand we’re seeing for our technology to solve a genuine problem, experienced by all businesses that deal with contracts, has been extraordinary. It’s clear that most businesses have a challenge when it comes to scaling contract processes and making the entire process much easier and faster. Bolstered by YFM’s support, we are in prime position to develop our game-changing approach to digital contracting even further.

“Digitalising the end-to-end contract lifecycle and integrating directly within the interface of Teams and Slack brings the in-house legal department up-to-speed with its more digitally advanced counterparts in finance, HR or sales. It makes contract processes accessible to everyone, and helps everyone understand each other better.”

The funding was raised through YFM’s British Smaller Companies VCTs and the Maven VCTs. 

Mike Clarke, investment partner at YFM, said: “Summize are deliberately different and their disruptive approach stood out to us. They have developed a really effective solution to helping drive legal departments and processes on the digital journey, and one which is attractive to users as it operates as an extension of existing ways of working. The efficiency benefits are quickly apparent to clients with estimates that users of the platform save 85 per cent in time spent reviewing contracts.

“Summize also benefits from having a very experienced senior management team for this stage of the business, and a clear vision of where they are going. We are excited to be supporting them as they continue on their growth journey.”

James Darlington, Investment Director at Maven, said: “Maven is delighted to be backing Summize. It is an attractive opportunity for the Maven VCTs to invest in a rapidly growing business which has made strong commercial progress in terms of sales growth and new customer wins. We have been impressed with the ambition, skill and knowledge of the management team and we are confident they will continue to drive the business forward and deliver on their growth ambitions.”

The YFM investment team comprised Laura Sisson, Mike Clarke and Ian Waterfield. 

Other advisors on the deal included: Graph Strategy (James Tetherton and Matt Harrison), James Bagan, Chris Waterhouse, BHP (Fletcher Adamowicz), David Gallimore, Vista (Peter Warburton and Daniel Blake), Shoosmiths (James Foster and Sophie Davies), Catalysis (Mike Hicks), Philip Hare & Associates (Philip Hare and Tom Hopley) and Pannone (Mark Winthorpe and Miranda Foy).

ENDS

Picture shows (L-R): The Summize management team with Mike Clarke (far left) and Laura Sisson (second left) of YFM, and Jeremy Thompson (back left) of Maven 

Notes to Editors 

Press contact:

Emma Gage, MC2

[email protected]

07757610495

About Summize

Summize is a digital contracting software business that exists to help everyone understand each other better. 

Summize was founded in 2018 by former General Counsel Tom Dunlop and Software Engineer David Smith to address the pressing need make contracts simpler and easier to understand.

Based in Manchester City Centre, the business is made up of a 30-strong all-star team of experts in legal, development and technology. Summize combines the best of humans and AI-powered technology to produce intelligent contract summaries and make workflows smarter. 

The software can seamlessly integrate into the daily life of any business, with integrations for Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Word, Excel, Slack and Google Chrome. 

More than 100 businesses use the platform, including Everton FC, N Brown Group, Vodafone, Fujifilm, NCC Group, The Modern Milkman and Moonpig. The award-winning business has secured £1.5m of funding to date in two rounds from Maven Capital Partners via the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).

About YFM

YFM typically invests between £2m and £10m per transaction into businesses with strong growth potential located across the UK regions through YFM’s network of offices in London, Leeds, Manchester, Reading and Birmingham.

YFM Equity Partners are specialist, independently owned, private equity investors. Celebrating our 40^th year of investing experience, we seek to unlock value and growth potential by providing up to £10 million of equity to fuel the development of established business throughout the UK regions. We do this by helping our portfolio companies grow niche businesses, launch new initiatives, make transformative acquisitions, and upgrade technologies and systems. We are dedicated to working alongside management teams to create long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in and a positive economic impact for the communities in which we work. We manage funds in excess of £420 million which include venture capital trusts and private equity funds.

YFM Equity Partners conducts its investment business through its subsidiary YFM Private Equity Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 122120). 

For more information, please visit www.yfmep.com or follow us on LinkedIn

About Maven Capital Partners

Maven is a leading private equity house focused on the provision of flexible funding for high growth businesses, and one of the most active investors in smaller companies in the UK. Headquartered in Glasgow, and with offices throughout the UK, Maven has over 90 investment and support professionals providing a truly nationwide coverage. Maven has over £740 million funds under management and ready to invest, and manages assets for a variety of client funds, including Venture Capital Trusts, MBO Fund, UK regional fund mandates, and Maven Investor Partners, a syndicate of institutional, family office and experienced investors. 

For more information, please visit www.mavencp.com