Law company Elevate says it has secured a $25 million minority investment from Kayne Partners to scale operations to meet increasing customer demand and to enhance its Cael enterprise legal management software.

Buying spree

This investment brings the amount of capital deployed by Elevate to almost $60 million. “Elevate is addressing a critical need in a sizable market, with a new business model, just as change is beginning to take hold in the legal sector.” says Leon Chen, partner at Kayne Partner Funds, who has joined Elevate’s board of directors. “This investment will support our future growth plans, continuing the momentum created by our series of recent acquisitions,” says Elevate founder and executive chairman Liam Brown, referring to the five businesses Elevate acquired in late 2018 and early 2019. Elevate’s recent buying spree of acquisitions include legal AI technology and consultancy LexPredict, contract lifecycle management (CLM) provider Sumati Group, UK NewLaw legal resourcing firm Halebury, law company Yerra Solutions, and Hong Kong-based flexible legal resourcing business Cognatio Law. The acquisitions were funded in part by $25 million financing from a credit fund managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, the growth-focused private investment platform within Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Public listing

Company has set a goal for a UK public listing by 2021, and expects revenue to reach nearly $200 million by 2023. Mr Brown says, “Elevate now provides services to over one hundred Global 1000 corporations and over twenty global law firms. This reflects the accelerating trend for law departments, law firms, and law companies to work together to more efficiently meet the growing legal demands in the business world. Our AI-powered enterprise legal management software platform supports process transformation for some of the most innovative global companies and law firms in the world.” Elevate has grown by an average of 65 percent per annum for the past five years, with 2019 sales forecasted to exceed $75 million. Elevate plans to leverage its partnership with Kayne Partners to accelerate this growth by continuing to bring new and innovative solutions to the legal sector. According to a presentation obtained by Bloomberg Law, Elevate predicts its revenue will climb to $76 million in 2019, and to more than twice that amount by 2023.