Robert Ambrogi Blog
‘Twas the night before New Year’s Eve, when all through the legaltech world
Not a creature was stirring, not even in-house.
The laptops were stored in their backpacks with care,
Certain no investors would anytime soon be there.
This blogger was nestled all snug at my desk,
Envisioning how Legaltech Week would soon dance in my head;
There would be Joe in his ‘kerchief and Steve in his cap,
Settling down for our Friday afternoon yap.
When out on Law.com there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from Twitter to see what was the matter.
Away to my browser I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shut tabs and and bypassed the cache.
The story was there, Stephanie Wilkins got the scoop,
Giving lustre to year-end news in the loop,
There, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a year-end acquisition, one of which I did not hear.
With Wolters Kluwer the driver, so nimble and quick,
It had acquired Della, the object of its pick.
More rapid than eagles, the deal had closed,
Or at least as I shouted, that is what I supposed.
I offer the above by way of explaining why I am so late in reporting the news, which broke late on Friday, Dec. 30, that Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory has acquired the contract analytics and review startup Della AI Ltd.
Legaltech News edtior Stephanie Wilkins picked up on it and reported it just as we were about to begin our weekly Legaltech Week webcast.
Della AI will become part of the Legal Software unit of Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory, which includes legal technology solutions such as Legisway, all-in-one software for corporate legal departments, and Kleos, cloud-based legal practice management software for law firms.
Last March, Della, the London and Paris-based company founded two years ago by Christophe Frèrebeau, raised 2.5 in seed funding. Frèrebeau told me at the time that his dream for his technology was for it to “be able to answer a question about a legal document, and answer it like a lawyer would.”
Last June, Della and the London-based international law firm Mishcon de Reya entered into a commercial agreement by which Della’s platform became available to selected legal teams throughout the firm.
Della had graduated last February from Mishcon’s MDR Lab, a 12-week program designed to give legal startups the opportunity to work within their target market and to pilot and improve their products.
Della was also a participant in the 2021 Startup Alley at ABA Techshow (which I organize), where it was the third-place winner.
Read more about Della at the LawNext Legal Technology Directory.
In a statement released by the company, Giulietta Lemmi, CEO of Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory Legal Software, said: “By integrating the expertise and know-how of Della AI into Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory, we are further enhancing the value we deliver to our customers, by investing in the continuous development of this key technology and the people behind it. Today, our customers already acknowledge the value of Legisway in all their legal activities. Together with Della AI, we will further enhance our customers’ experience and secure a leading position for Wolters Kluwer in the corporate legal market.”
In that same statement, Frèrebeau said: “We are extremely proud to be joining the Wolters Kluwer family. Wolters Kluwer recognizes Della AI’s potential for its customers. Della AI was built to make finding, analyzing, and extracting data from contracts simpler and faster through AI, and we are excited to leverage our expertise to help make Legisway even smarter. Becoming part of Wolters Kluwer will provide great opportunities for our customers and partners.”