Libryo, a Cape Town- and London-based legal-tech start-up, has secured US$1m in seed funding, and has plans to expand its business and product into new global markets.
Libryo, which was co-founded in 2016 by three South African entrepreneurs in London, is a digital platform that enables people in any organisation to understand their legal position and rights in any situation.
“The platform was built to overcome regulatory complexity. Its fundamental purpose is to empower organisations globally, to know, for sure, what they are required to do by law and regulation,” the company says.
Europe’s Seedcamp and Nextlaw Labs, which invest in tech start-ups, are investors. This round of funding (which is not the first) also includes new investor Innogy’s UK Innovation Hub as well as Force Over Mass, an angel aggregation fund, and a complementary group of angel investors.
Since its inception last year, the business has expanded from five to 50 countries, 45 of which are across sub-Saharan Africa. In the next 18-24 months, the aim is to use the $1m raised to expand the business further across Africa, Europe, North America and Australia.
Libryo’s legal-tech software as a service is designed for compliance professionals and in-house lawyers to answer legal questions immediately and accurately in an automated, efficient and cost-effective manner.
Libryo was co-founded by South African CEO Peter Flynn, chief legal officer Garth Watson and chief customer officer Malcolm Gray.
The co-founders recognised a need to create a platform that was efficient and cost-effective, and which allows multinational companies to be informed and updated with the regulations faced at each operation.
Search facility
Libryo gives its users, who don’t need legal experience, a search facility, real-time updates and site- and context-specific regulatory information, at any time. It focuses on environmental and occupational health and safety in line with the International Organisation for Standardisation and the International Finance Corporation.
Peter Flynn, Libryo co-founder and CEO said: “We’re already seeing a huge appetite for our service across Africa, particularly in the legal domains of environment and occupational health and safety, and are at a key moment for our business as we look to expand our offering even further across the world and into other legal domains.”
To date the company has raised $1.2m in funding, and has customers in over 50 countries in telecommunications, energy, infrastructure, mining, and oil and gas, and other sectors. — Reported by Aarti Bhana
- This article was originally published on Moneyweb and is used here with permission
