Allen & Overy’s technology innovation hub, Fuse, has launched its sixth cohort with “a record number of technology companies.”
This year, Fuse will host 16 businesses headquartered across the U.S. and Europe as it “reopens its physical space in A&O’s London office, which it will combine with virtual meetings to deliver the programme in a hybrid fashion.”
Shruti Ajitsaria, partner and head of Fuse commented:
“We’ve had an incredible amount of interest this year with over 130 applications from technology companies based in 25 countries. The quality of these applications is a sign that we remain attractive to the LegalTech ecosystem and that the legal sector continues to be ripe for disruptive transformation. We feel immensely proud that Fuse serves as a key focal point in uncovering and supporting these new technologies.”
As with the previous two years, Fuse has welcomed companies via “an open application process, as well as those nominated by a select group of the firm’s clients.”
Shruti added:
“The client-nominated stream allows A&O to gain an in-depth understanding of the direction of travel of each of our clients. Identifying areas of interest and investing time upfront in understanding the relevant subject matter means we are well aligned with our clients’ strategies, so we can provide them targeted and relevant support.”
The breadth of experience and expertise of Fuse’s selection committee has “brought together a cohort that truly taps into A&O’s lawyers’ needs, as well as the issues faced by clients when advancing their digital transformation strategies.”
Selection committee member Emma Brissaud, formerly an associate at A&O and now with Meta, said:
“I was very impressed by the diversity of the applicants. It was great to see people applying from across Europe, as well as the U.S. and Australia. Equally, it was wonderful to see that the Fuse accelerator welcomes applications not just from LegalTech but also RegTech and FinTech companies.”
The new Legaltech firms joining Fuse via the application process are as follows:
- CUBE – Helps regulated institutions by using AI to capture, track and analyse complex, multijurisdictional and multilingual regulatory data.
- Eperoto – Helps dispute resolution teams to perform risk-value assessments by utilising decision theory. It clearly shows the risks and rewards of legal proceedings compared with a negotiated settlement.
- Everchron – Helps litigation and arbitration teams to collaborate on matters via use of a centralised platform.
- Legalme – Helps claimants and their lawyers automate housing disrepair claims, improving resolution outcomes and allowing timely and effective client support. Automation provides increased access to legal aid and allows lawyers to increase capacity and focus on high complexity cases.
- neopolis – Helps lawyers draft documents in a collaborative manner by supporting simultaneous co-authoring and transparent version control. Its software can be integrated directly into Microsoft Word or accessed via a web interface.
As noted in the update, these companies will “join Fuse alumni companies Avvoka, Draftwise, Greenomy and Definely.”
In line with A&O’s commitment to pro bono and community investment work, this year’s cohort “includes an access to justice company, Legalme.”
The companies chosen in collaboration with clients to be part of this cohort are:
- CoorpID – Helps companies to gather, manage and exchange KYC documentation via a collaborative portal.
- Crowdz – Helps SMEs to improve their cash flow by providing access to a blockchain-based global invoice exchange and marketplace, which reduces obstacles in sending, paying and selling invoices.
- Genesis – Helps institutions quickly to build, customise and integrate software and technology platforms using low code software.
- Logical Construct – Helps legal and business teams extract and use the data contained in contracts using automated data extraction software and by linking the underlying contracts with the processes and systems driven by it.
- One Creation – Helps law firms and companies to track access to and protect unstructured data, using encryption software.
- Scribestar – Helps lawyers and issuers automate manual and repetitive tasks involved in issuing and maintaining securities. Its collaboration suite includes tools to assist with verification management and regulatory checklisting.
- SparkChange – Helps investors to meet specific decarbonisation objectives by integrating the global finance industry directly with carbon markets. Its specialist carbon investment products and data allows both financial returns and positive environmental impact.