Brightflag, an e-billing and spend-management platform for corporate legal departments that uses artificial intelligence to review outside counsel invoices, has raised $8.5 million in a Series A funding round, bringing the company’s total raise to $11 million.

The round was led by Sands Capital Ventures, Arlington, Va., with participation from existing investors Frontline Ventures and Tribal Ventures. The company, which says it has tripled in size year-on-year since its launch in 2015, plans to use the funding to further its growth.

“The investment round will enable Brightflag to further capitalize on our position as a global leader in the legal technology industry by recruiting new team members across our offices in Dublin, New York, and Sydney,” the company said in a statement. “The roles will be created throughout the organization’s engineering, data science, and growth teams.”

Brightflag’s spend-management platform provides e-billing, invoice management, invoice review and accruals management. Its AI technology reads invoices submitted by outside counsel and highlights breaches of billing guidelines. Its software tracks accruals and work-in-progress and provides a variety of reports. It also tracks historical matter billing and uses analytics to help in negotiating fees.

The company was founded in Dublin under its original name Legalshine by Ian Nolan, now CEO and formerly business development manager at another case management company, and Alex Kelly, now COO and formerly an associate attorney at Matheson in Dublin.

“We’re excited to enter this new phase of growth in Brightflag,” Nolan said in a statement. “Our team has built an amazing technology that is driving real change in the legal industry, and we’re excited to play a part in this sea-change.”

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.