The Inno Madness votes have been tallied, the contest has come to a close and San Antonio legal technology company Easy Expunctions has taken the top spot.
Easy Expunctions, founded in 2015 by Trinity University and St. Mary's School of Law alumnus and attorney Yousef Kassim, raised more than $6 million in equity funding in 2021.
It has a single goal: to help those dealing with old criminal convictions — whose public nature is often a barrier to housing or employment — expunge their charges easily through legal technology.
By creating a free account, users can check their own criminal records or pay a small fee to request an eligibility report determining whether they are good candidates for expunction. They can opt to purchase packages of varying prices, allowing them to quickly expunge or seal court records — or purge previously expunged records from online databases.
Kassim told the Business Journal that the personal scope and impact of his work is what motivates him, adding that most people know someone who has been arrested so the issue strikes close to home. His intent in founding the company was to take a complicated and pricy process and make it accessible and affordable.
Kassim said he sees the role of Easy Expunctions in the San Antonio startup community as both local and global, with opportunities for expansion down the line.
"We ... see a huge opportunity to build and develop products and services that promote justice for consumers at a time when the awareness of the need is only increasing," he said.
