Startup Funding Automator SeedLegals Raises $4M

SeedLegals, a startup that automates the funding round process for other startups, including getting rid of middlemen and saving lawyer costs, has raised $4 million in a Series A funding round, according to a report by TechCrunch.

The round was led by Index Ventures, with other funding from Kima Ventures, The Family and a previous investor, Seedcamp.

Hannah Seal from Index Ventures joined the SeedLegals board after the round.

“SeedLegals is making the complex process of fundraising straightforward for everyone involved,” Seals said. “We closed this round on SeedLegals and have been impressed with the speed and ease of use. For startups who spend thousands on legal fees on agreements that vary little from company to company, this is an absolute no-brainer.”

The company said it has about 7,000 startups getting 8 percent of all of the early-stage funding rounds in the U.K.

Those startups are using SeedLegals to handle the whole process, including creating and negotiating term sheets, stock options, EIS approvals, hiring agreements, NDAs and other seed round-related actions.

The company also has a couple of new offerings. One is called SeedFAST, and the other is called Instant Investment, a product that lets startups top up investments rapidly between rounds.

SeedLegals estimates it saved startups around £4.5 million in legal costs by avoiding the lengthy process of lawyers having to make custom documents for every single transaction. Also, the whole process can take up to 18 weeks with lawyers.

Startups simply enter data into the SeedRound system and it builds all of the outputs.

SeedLegals Co-Founder and CEO Anthony Rose said that the program has gotten rid of the “complexity, unnecessary middlemen, standardized and automated the processes, and that has really resonated with both founders and investors.”

Rose launched SeedLegals in 2017 with VC and angel investor Laurent Laffy, whose portfolio includes Secret Escapes. Rose is known for launching the BBC iPlayer.