BC Business
The cloud-based legal technology startup raises $250 million USD from American firms TCV and JMI Equity.
Clio co-founder and CEO Jack Newton didn’t mince words when thanking friends and family for being among the first investors in his legal software endeavour.
“I did not want to be attending my parents’ Thanksgiving and having to eat mac and cheese because of a failed investment they made in Clio,” said Newton to a room full of employees, investors and government officials.
It’s safe to say there’ll be plenty of grub on the table come October, as the company that Newton and Rian Gauvreau founded out of their basements in 2008 announced a Series D funding round of US$250 million, the largest of its kind in Canadian history.
To put some perspective on that, the first two rounds of funding the company went through totalled $26 million.
The investment, by American firms TCV and JMI, who have been partners with companies like Airbnb, Netflix and Spotify, will allow Clio to hire 100 new employees by the end of the year, with an additional 100 in 2020.
From left: Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley, Clio co-founder and CEO Jack Newton, Burnaby NorthSeymour MP Terry Beech and BC Tech president and CEO Jill Tipping
Newton, who was joined by Burnaby NorthSeymour MP Terry Beech, Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley and BC Tech president and CEO Jill Tipping, said that while Clio’s first 10 years were about making lawyers’ jobs easier, the next decade will be about transforming the client process.
“We’ll be making it easier for clients to find and work with lawyers,” said Newton. “We will truly transform the legal landscape, drastically improve access to justice for consumers and create a vastly expanded market for lawyers.”
In addition to its headquarters in Burnaby, the company has offices in Calgary, Toronto, Los Angeles and Dublin.