Fuse is targeting companies focusing on legal technology to help in-house lawyers and law firms operate and deliver their services in smarter, more efficient ways. It is also supporting regtech - supporting businesses complying with law and regulation.The third area of interest to the law firm is dealtech - developing new ways for businesses to negotiate and transact with each other. The firm has engaged in the Fuse project to boost its reputation in fintech by working closely with companies in this area.
Nivaura
The first company invited by Allen & Overy to join Fuse was Nivaura, which is developing an automated and vertically integrated cloud based service for the issue and administration of financial instruments by small and medium-sized issuers. As entrepreneurs-in-residence, Nivaura team members will help to guide the tech companies selected to work in the space by sharing advice and business experiences whilst continuing to develop their own business.
Pitch day
After reviewing the selection of online applications, Allen & Overy invited a number of tech companies to a pitch day in July. The companies were asked to present to the inaugural Fuse selection committee which included J.P. Morgan’s Oli Harris, Funding Circle’s Robert Kerrigan, Amazon’s Alex Wong and Balderton’s Sam Myers as well as Allen & Overy participants.
Successful applicants
Following the pitch process, seven companies have been selected to move into Fuse in September, as follows:
•Avvoka – a digital platform incorporating a contract creation, workflow and analytics tool.
•Corlytics – a business providing regulatory risk intelligence, using forensic analysis and forecasting of fines and sentencing globally.
•iManage – previously known as RAVN, a business developing natural language processing and machine learning technology to organise, discover and summarise documents.
•Ithaca – a charitable not-for-profit enterprise aiming to create a mobile-responsive online technology platform to assist asylum seekers in gaining access to pro bono legal representation and advice.
•Legatics – a company that turns ‘paper and email’ based legal processes into simple and innovative software.
•Opus 2 International – originally a developer of litigation and transcript management software, now developing a tool to support lawyers with the prospectus verification process.
•Vable – a provider of content aggregation, automation and intelligence software.
Allen & Overy's Jonathan Brayne, chairman of Fuse, commented: 'The selection process has been an extremely interesting and rewarding experience. Now we’re just really looking forward to welcoming the companies into the space next month, introducing people from A&O and our clients’ businesses to it and, ultimately, helping shape what emerges from the Fuse environment.'
Applicants
The Fuse initiative attracted over 80 applications from a variety of enterprises, a quarter of which focus on workflows (26 per cent); intelligent document-focused businesses accounted for 23 per cent of applications, while platforms (22 per cent) and regtech (19 per cent) each accounted for one in five. In terms of development stage, just under half of the applicants (46 per cent) have existing users, while 40 per cent are at the prototype phase and 14% are still at concept stage. Just over half of applicants (55 per cent) revealed that the primary type of assistance sought through the Fuse programme related to business development or marketing, this was closely followed by product development (46 per cent) and testing (26 per cent).
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