Hard-to-stand-up lawyers needed a whistle to leave their desks and get closer to clients. And this is echoing loudly from NetLex, a Rome, Italy-based startup.
By leveraging a regulatory arbitrage (by June 30th 2014, all legal proceedings must be via internet only, by law), Giorgio Pallocca – CEO, Fabrizio Giammatteo – CTO, both developers with many years of software development and marketing experience, and Roberto Magnifico – CFO, NetLex aims to disrupt a highly fragmented legal practice management software market in Italy, via a SaaS platform which is already online to offer digital tools to manage docs, clients, counterparts, hearings, payments, invoices, deadlines, parcels, an agenda/calendar. It also provides an analytics service to monitor the performance of the activity of the law firm.
Established as a company in April 2013, following two years in stealth mode, the company already serves 130 paying lawyers. But they face a difficult challenge: in Italy, lawyers still (and massively) rely on paper and are reluctant to approach technology. They know it well and are confident to promote the cultural change and thrive in the market.
Magnifico, a startup mentor, advisor, and angel himself, told me that they want to reach out more lawyers and legal practices “embedded in badly outdated client-based software“. To this end, following a recently €30k micro-seed, the co-founders are now seeking an additional €250k+ in funding. They aim to use 65% of the proceeds to expand their sales & marketing efforts with the balance dedicated to developing native iOS and Android mobile applications, hiring two developers and a user support resource.
The company, which is part of the Microsoft Bizspark Program, is advised by lawyers Domenico Condello and Piero Guidaldi.
FinSMEs
22/07/2013