Paris-based contract management software provider Leeway raises $4.2 million in seed round

Seeking to simplify contract management for in-house legal teams, Paris-based Leeway has raised $4.2 million in a seed round.

The funding arrives via HenQ and Xavier Niel’s Kima Ventures as well as a number of angel investors including the founders of Algolia, Eventbrite, Spendesk, MeilleursAgents, Livestorm and Luko.

$4.2 million is not a bad number for a startup that’s barely just (officially) six months old and has garnered nearly 30 clients in France and the UK including Voodoo, Evaneos, Ifop, and Fitness Park.

Leeway currently counts over 500 users each week and more than 10,000 contracts have been processed via their software. And it’s these 500+ weekly users that Leeway has worked in close concert with developing an intuitive, collaborative, and secure platform for both legal and commercial departments.

Often a costly and complex process, Leeway makes it possible to manage a contract lifecycle in an efficient manner from creation, to tracking, to negotiation, to the final signature.

Now add a global pandemic, and stay-at-home lockdowns in place, and as we’ve seen across countless industries, digitalisation wasn’t an option, it became a necessity.

“From one day to the next, in-house lawyers have had to deal with completely new areas,” says Leeway co-founder and CEO Antoine Fabre. “The increased workload has highlighted significant legal and financial risks. As a result, most legal departments have turned to contract management solutions to automate low value tasks and take back control.”

Leeway is reporting that the seed funding will be put to use recruiting approximately 20 new positions to work in tech, product development, marketing, and customer success teams.