VC-backed Clara setting out to remake the world of startup legals
LONDON, July 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Clara, the London-based legaltech company, today announced that it has secured the rights to incorporate companies in two of the world's most popular jurisdictions for raising venture capital: the Cayman Islands and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). Clara's capacity to form Cayman and ADGM companies is a result of its acquisition of Foundra Corporate Services, a leading provider of company formation services in ADGM and its partnership with an affiliate in the Cayman Islands. With these deals, Clara takes another step towards providing startups with an automated, online solution for many of their legal needs.
"Startups are looking for a new approach to help them overcome the pain and complexity of dealing with legal matters," said Patrick Rogers, CEO and Co-Founder of Clara. "These transactions will allow us to completely streamline the customer experience of incorporating Cayman and ADGM companies - adding further value to the Clara platform, which digitizes and automates startup legals."
These developments will enable Clara to further enhance its offering to startups, creating a value chain of incorporation and ongoing management of companies. Clara's digital formations module, which has already been integrated with both DocuSign and Checkout.com, will be launched in August and will initially focus on Cayman and ADGM.
Under the terms of the transactions, Foundra and its Cayman affiliate will be re-branded as "Clara Formations".
Clara is led by a team of seasoned lawyers and technologists who have worked at some of the top companies within their sectors. The company's platform automates many of the tasks currently performed by startup lawyers including: forming companies, drafting agreements, building cap tables, structuring data rooms and predictively educating founders on legal concepts. The company has raised US$3 million in seed financing from institutional investors, including 500 Startups and Techstars.
Foundra was established in 2018 and quickly became the leading provider of incorporation services for ADGM, which is one of the world's leading financial centers. To date the company has established more than 400 companies. "Clara is an ideal partner to advance our mission," said Kathryn Burke, Managing Director of Foundra. "With Clara's tech resources and global platform, we will be able to accelerate innovation in the company formation space. I could not be more excited for what lies ahead."
Clara plans to add to the list of jurisdictions where they will be able to incorporate companies. They are currently considering: Delaware, Singapore, and the UK.
About Clara
Clara is a legal operating system that digitises and automates startup legal expertise. Clara educates and empowers founders to address many of the tasks currently performed by lawyers, including incorporating companies, drafting agreements, building cap tables and structuring data rooms. At the same time, Clara acts as a collaboration and information sharing tool for founders, investors and lawyers so that the key players in the global startup ecosystem can work together more efficiently.
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