Contract management investors bankrolling CLM platforms and legal automation

Contract management software raised $1.8B in 2025. Legal teams finally got budget for tools that aren't DocuSign. If you're building CLM platforms, AI contract review, or legal workflow automation, these investors are actively deploying capital.

Quick list

Picking the right investor

Experience: Find investors who've backed legal tech through enterprise sales cycles. Most CLM deals take 9–12 months and move through procurement, legal, and IT, so your process must reflect a GDPR-ready workflow that enterprise buyers expect.

Network: Ask if they can intro you to GCs at mid-market companies or procurement heads at enterprises. Those connections matter far more than knowing random law firm partners, especially when you’re sharing sensitive materials that require strong file protection.

Alignment: SaaS investors often push for PLG motions that don't work in legal. Enterprise buyers will not adopt a freemium CLM tool regardless of how polished your onboarding is, so it helps to use a document-sharing platform that goes beyond typical DocSend-style tools when presenting your sales deck.

Track record: Check if their portfolio companies actually landed Fortune 500 logos or just talk about their pipeline. Press releases don't equal signed contracts. Use Ellty to share your deck with trackable links. You'll see who actually opens your enterprise sales metrics and integration architecture.

Value-add: Ask what happens when your first enterprise implementation hits compliance roadblocks. Generic "we'll support you" answers won't help you navigate IT security reviews.

Operational support: Find out if they've helped portfolio companies hire heads of legal sales before. You need people who've sold into legal departments, not just standard SaaS AEs.

How to approach them

Identify potential investors: Research recent legal tech deals on Pitchbook. Seed funds won't lead your $40M Series B for enterprise expansion.

Craft a compelling pitch: Show contract volume processed and time saved per contract. Most investors are tired of "AI-powered legal tech" claims without data on accuracy rates and legal team adoption.

Share your pitch deck: Upload to Ellty and send trackable links. Monitor which pages investors spend time on - if they skip your compliance and security slides, that's useful information.

Utilize your network: Message founders at Ironclad, Icertis, or Agiloft on LinkedIn. Ask about investor patience during long enterprise sales cycles.

Attend networking events: Legaltech and Clio Cloud Conference are where deals happen. Skip the small legal innovation meetups.

Engage on online platforms: Connect with partners on LinkedIn after getting introduced by a portfolio founder. Cold DMs to legal tech investors rarely work.

Organize due diligence: Set up an Ellty data room with your security certifications, customer contracts, and churn data before they ask. It speeds up the process.

Set up introductory meetings: Lead with enterprise logos and contract volume metrics. Don't waste 20 minutes on market size slides about legal department spending.

Why this matters now

Legal departments finally got real software budgets in 2025. Remote work made manual contract routing impossible. Companies discovered they couldn't find half their vendor agreements during audits. That pushed CLM from nice-to-have to must-have. Investment in legal tech software grew 38% year-over-year through Q3 2025. The difference now is legal ops teams have dedicated budgets and decision-making authority. Investors who ignored legal tech because of slow adoption are writing checks again.

15 contract management investors

1. Bessemer Venture Partners

They understand enterprise SaaS and won't panic during 12-month sales cycles.

• Recent Deals: Ironclad Series D ($150M, 2024), Harvey Series C ($80M, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Bessemer Venture Partners
• Sector Focus: Legal tech, CLM, enterprise SaaS, AI automation
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, Series D
• Location: San Francisco, USA
• Website: bvp.com

2. Accel

They backed Docusign early and understand legal workflow adoption curves.

• Recent Deals: Juro Series B ($53M, 2024), Robin AI Series B ($26M, 2023)
• LinkedIn: Accel
• Sector Focus: Legal automation, contract collaboration, workflow software
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: Palo Alto, USA
• Website: accel.com

3. Tiger Global

They move fast on legal tech deals but expect aggressive growth targets.

• Recent Deals: Evisort Series C ($60M, 2024), Harvey Series B ($80M, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Tiger Global Management
• Sector Focus: AI contract analysis, legal tech, enterprise software
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: tigerglobal.com

4. NEA

They back enterprise software and have strong connections to procurement and legal buyers.

• Recent Deals: Icertis Series C ($115M, 2024), Grata Series A ($25M, 2023)
• LinkedIn: NEA (New Enterprise Associates)
• Sector Focus: Enterprise CLM, contract intelligence, legal operations
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth
• Location: Menlo Park, USA
• Website: nea.com

5. Battery Ventures

They focus on B2B SaaS and understand legal tech go-to-market strategies.

• Recent Deals: LinkSquares Series C ($100M, 2024), Relativity Series D ($45M, 2023)
• LinkedIn: Battery Ventures
• Sector Focus: Legal automation, contract analytics, legal operations software
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth
• Location: Boston, USA
• Website: battery.com

6. Scale Venture Partners

They back enterprise SaaS with proven revenue and understand legal buying cycles.

• **Agiloft growth rounds ($45M, 2024), DocuSign pre-IPO ($47M, 2017)
• LinkedIn: Scale Venture Partners
• Sector Focus: No-code CLM, enterprise contract management, workflow automation
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, growth
• Location: San Francisco, USA
• Website: scalevp.com

7. Insight Partners

They specialize in growth-stage B2B software and have deep legal tech expertise.

• Recent Deals: Conga Series D ($70M, 2024), Clarip (legal tech platform, $15M, 2023)
• LinkedIn: Insight Partners
• Sector Focus: Contract lifecycle software, revenue management, legal automation
• Stage Focus: Series C, Series D, growth
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: insightpartners.com

8. Madrona Venture Group

They back Pacific Northwest enterprise software and understand legal workflows.

• Recent Deals: LegalSifter Series B ($13M, 2023), Syndio Series C ($50M, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Madrona Venture Group
• Sector Focus: AI contract review, legal compliance, risk management
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B
• Location: Seattle, USA
• Website: madrona.com

9. Point Nine Capital

They focus on B2B SaaS in Europe and back SMB-focused legal tech.

• Recent Deals: ContractHero Series A ($7M, 2024), Leaply Seed ($3M, 2023)
• LinkedIn: Point Nine Capital
• Sector Focus: SMB contract management, legal automation, SaaS tools
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Website: pointninecap.com

10. OpenView

They back product-led enterprise SaaS and understand legal tech adoption.

• Recent Deals: Concord Series B ($25M, 2023), ContractWorks growth round ($15M, 2024)
• LinkedIn: OpenView
• Sector Focus: Contract negotiation, e-signature workflows, legal collaboration
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B
• Location: Boston, USA
• Website: openviewpartners.com

11. Sierra Ventures

They invest early in enterprise software and helped build Evisort before growth rounds.

• Recent Deals: Evisort Series A ($15M, 2020), ThoughtTrace Series B ($12M, 2023)
• LinkedIn: Sierra Ventures
• Sector Focus: AI contract analytics, legal tech, enterprise automation
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A, Series B
• Location: San Mateo, USA
• Website: sierraventures.com

12. Work-Bench

They focus on enterprise software for specific verticals including legal ops.

• Recent Deals: SpotDraft Seed ($4M, 2021), Docket Series A ($8M, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Work-Bench
• Sector Focus: Contract workflows, legal automation, legal operations tools
• Stage Focus: Seed, Series A
• Location: New York, USA
• Website: work-bench.com

13. Emergence Capital

They pioneered SaaS investing and understand legal software business models.

• Recent Deals: Outlaw Series A ($12M, 2021), Digitory Legal Series B ($18M, 2024)
• LinkedIn: Emergence Capital
• Sector Focus: Collaborative contract editing, legal workflow, CLM platforms
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B
• Location: San Mateo, USA
• Website: emcap.com

14. M12 (Microsoft)

They invest strategically in legal tech that integrates with Microsoft's ecosystem.

• Recent Deals: Conga strategic investment ($50M, 2023), Icertis partnership round ($30M, 2024)
• LinkedIn: M12 - Microsoft's Venture Fund
• Sector Focus: Microsoft-integrated CLM, legal automation, enterprise software
• Stage Focus: Series B, Series C, strategic
• Location: San Francisco, USA
• Website: m12.vc

15. Highland Capital Partners

They back enterprise software and understand legal tech sales complexity.

• Recent Deals: LinkSquares Series B ($40M, 2021), LawGeex Series C ($20M, 2023)
• LinkedIn: Highland Capital Partners
• Sector Focus: Contract analytics, legal AI, legal operations platforms
• Stage Focus: Series A, Series B, Series C
• Location: Boston, USA
• Website: hcp.com

Track your CLM fundraising progress

These 15 investors closed contract management deals from 2023 to 2024. Before you start outreach, set up proper tracking.

Upload your deck to Ellty and create a unique link for each investor. You'll see exactly which slides they view and how long they spend on your security architecture. Most founders are surprised when investors skip integration slides but spend 5+ minutes reviewing customer acquisition costs and sales cycle length.

When investors ask for security certifications or customer references, share an Ellty data room instead of scattered email attachments. Your SOC 2 reports, customer contracts, and revenue metrics in one secure place with view analytics.

Common questions

How do I know if an investor is still active in legal tech?

Check their recent deals on Crunchbase. If they haven't invested in CLM or legal automation in the past 18 months, they've probably shifted focus to other enterprise software categories.

Should I target legal-focused VCs or general enterprise SaaS investors?

General enterprise SaaS investors with legal tech portfolio companies are usually better. Pure legal tech VCs are rare and most successful CLM companies were backed by traditional B2B investors.

What's the difference between seed and Series B investors in contract management?

Seed investors will fund product development and first customers. Series B investors want proof of repeatable enterprise sales, low churn, and expansion revenue. Don't pitch growth funds until you're adding $1M+ ARR per quarter.

How many contract management investors should I reach out to?

Start with 20-25 who've invested in legal tech or adjacent enterprise software at your stage. The list of active CLM investors is smaller than general SaaS, so you'll exhaust relevant targets quickly.

When should I set up a data room?

Before your first investor meeting. They'll immediately ask for security certifications, customer contracts, and retention metrics. Use Ellty to organize everything and see what they actually review during diligence.

Do investors care about legal team adoption metrics?

Yes. Shelf-ware kills CLM companies faster than bad product. Investors will scrutinize daily active users, contracts processed per month, and whether legal teams actually replaced their old workflows. Show usage data, not just contract counts.