Automated contract markup technology provider BlackBoiler today announced it has secured $3.2 million in funding from a series of strategic investors including agreement cloud company DocuSign. BlackBoiler plans to use the funds to further develop the capabilities of its patented software and accelerate team growth.
BlackBoiler's patented technology addresses a global, $35 billion market in which companies spend $26 billion reviewing and negotiating semantically similar contracts, $7 billion of which is verbatim work. BlackBoiler delivers up to a 70% reduction in review time compared to in-person review. The company's automated editing technology suggests company-specific revisions to corporate documents to automate the process of contract negotiation—right in Track Changes, like an attorney would.
"This funding round further validates our unique approach to solving the biggest pain point in the contracting process—the review and markup of documents," said Dan Broderick, Co-Founder and CEO of BlackBoiler. "We are focused on bringing on key hires to help BlackBoiler address the demand we are seeing in the market and empowering our clients to have the ability to build bespoke editing models. As we deploy this technology to the legal market, we are excited to partner with leading Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) technologies, alternative legal service providers, and other legal tech companies."
BlackBoiler can leverage data points from other AI and analytics tools to ensure a higher level of accuracy while helping lower risk and accelerate revenue capture for its clients. As part of its broader strategy, BlackBoiler plans to partner with the larger contract management ecosystem, marrying complementary tools and resources to help businesses and law firms address a large-scale problem.
"Today's investment in BlackBoiler underscores the role its automated contract markup technology plays in the negotiation process—as well as its history of innovation and customer value," said Howard Goldstein, a member of BlackBoiler's board of directors and seasoned venture capitalist as Co-Founder of Vedanta Capital and Managing Partner of Cortlandt Private Capital.
BlackBoiler's client roster includes AmLaw 25 law firms and several organizations within the Fortune 1000, including TE Connectivity, a $14 billion technology manufacturer.
"BlackBoiler's AI platform provides our law department with a dynamic productivity tool driving efficiency and increased speed in contract review and execution," said Jim Michalowicz, Head of Legal Operations Business Performance at TE Connectivity. "The BlackBoiler tool also provides a significantly greater level of accuracy by the re-use of knowledge, standard clause banks, and contract templates."
In 2017, BlackBoiler received a $225,000 SBIR grant from the National Science Foundation. The company holds six patents in the U.S. and is currently pursuing additional IP protection in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
About BlackBoiler
Based in Arlington, Virginia, BlackBoiler is a National Science Foundation-backed software company focused on the automation of contract review. The company's patented automated contract markup tool is designed to work seamlessly with programs users already know how to use: Word and email. Through proprietary techniques, BlackBoiler creates client-specific editing models and leverages these models to markup inbound contracts instantaneously in the Track Changes feature of Microsoft Word. BlackBoiler grows smarter and increases efficiency of contract review with each additional use.
