LawLytics, an Arizona software company that helps lawyers build their own websites, has been acquired by the Smokeball-LEAP-InfoTrack Group, an international collection of tech companies serving lawyers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
LawLytics was founded in 2011 by Dan Jaffe, an attorney who turned to building tech companies after years of practicing law. In an interview with AZ Inno, Jaffe said that the Covid-19 pandemic forced many lawyers to take a fresh look at their web presence, which drastically accelerated the LawLytics business.
“We weren't the only legal tech company that massively accelerated during Covid, and a lot of smart money started noticing that legal tech is getting very hot,” he said. “Based on not only the inquiries that we were getting, but the way that competitors were approaching talking about us, we realized that we had a fairly significant lead, but we had a big target on our back.”
As a leader in the legal marketing and software space, Jaffe said LawLytics had lots of inbound interest, both from potential buyers and investors looking to give the company money. But once Jaffe met Christian Beck, the Australian founder of legal software LEAP, his choice was clear.
“When I started talking with Christian and his team, I just knew this is not only the company that's going to take LawLytics several levels beyond where it is right now, but this is the guy that I want to work for and with,” he said. “It was just like a perfect match all the way around.”
Beck previously founded LEAP, InfoTrack and the Smokeball-LEAP-InfoTrack Group, a collection of 10 companies that serve legal professionals around the world.
Jaffe described the companies in the group as connected, commonly owned and independently operated, which was appealing to him because he wanted to stay involved with growing LawLytics.
The LawLytics team, which currently has 27 employees in the U.S. and 10 engineers in India, will expand now as part of the acquisition. LawLytics has an office in Tucson, where the company was founded, and an office in Scottsdale, where Jaffe and other members of the executive team work.
Jaffe said the team is working on new products that he could not discuss just yet and that the team is building new integrations so LawLytics users can access features from its new sister companies.
To VC or not to VC
Much of the global economy is still in a twist because of the pandemic, but venture capitalists have been funding deals at a record-setting pace this year. VC firms collectively put $286.6 billion into U.S. startups from January to October this year, according to research firm GlobalData.
LawLytics could have taken VC funding this year, but Jaffe decided against it.
“There's so many strings that are tied to the VC round,” he said. "If we were to go and raise $20, $30 million, it really ties you to a certain trajectory and you're making a big, essentially all or nothing bet.”
LawLytics was built on less than $1.5 million in outside funding, including a $600,000 seed round raised at the end of 2017. For many startups, 2021 seed rounds can easily come tallied in the millions.
Jaffe said he’s always been capital conscious when building LawLytics, focusing on slow, methodical growth and keeping customers happy. Passionate customers and early adopters have been key to LawLytics, which had not put an emphasis on sales or marketing, but that will change with the acquisition.
Joining the Smokeball-LEAP-InfoTrack Group will also give LawLytics connections to other companies in the group that will support its growth.
“If we were to remain independent, and take VC, we wouldn't necessarily be associated with any other legal tech organizations,” Jaffe said. “This association gives us an advantage in that we've got a built in laboratory, if you will, with our sister companies, in order to really push the boundaries of how these various pieces of legal tack can work together.”
