Highlights:

  • Docusign IAM is a platform introduced in April to assist companies in turning agreement data into insights and actions, speeding up contract review cycles, and increasing productivity throughout the organization.
  • Docusign IAM will also access Lexion’s natural language capabilities, which let users inquire about their contracts in everyday speech.

Docusign Inc. acquired Lexion, a startup officially known as DocuSmart Inc., in an all-cash agreement said to be valued at USD 165 million.

The deal is intended to support the introduction of Docusign’s recently released Intelligent Agreement Management platform.

Gaurav Oberoi, Emad Elwany, and James Baird formed Lexion in 2019. During their time at the Allen Institute for AI, they developed the company’s intelligent natural language processing engine, which converts contract text into structured data. Legal teams may quickly locate the answers to their questions regarding those contracts by posing natural language queries to Lexion, which organizes the structured data into a searchable database. Since then, Lexion has improved upon that offering and has added several tools for creating contracts in various industries, including finance, sales, IT, and human resources.

Chief Executive of Docusign, Allan Thygesen, stated that both companies are an obvious fit, as they share a vision that emphasizes offering “smarter agreement management.” Allan added, “our joint AI-powered innovation will deliver increased value, productivity and simplicity to our combined customers.”

Docusign IAM is a platform introduced in April to assist companies in turning agreement data into insights and actions, speeding up contract review cycles, and increasing productivity throughout the organization. The product aims to solve the problem of firms caught in what Docusign refers to as an “Agreement Trap,” wherein antiquated methods and procedures for agreements slow down operations and confine vital company data to flat, static files that are disconnected from current record-keeping systems.

Docusign IAM functions by establishing connections between the various elements of the agreement management process and using artificial intelligence to expedite the generation of contracts, facilitate negotiations, and offer strategic insights. Businesses can use the service to draft collaborative, automated agreements connected to their current systems and processes, such as enterprise resource planning, human capital management, and customer relationship management.

Following the integration of Lexion’s technology, the company unveiled a number of additional features that will be added to its IAM platform in the coming weeks. These include an AI-powered Microsoft Word plugin that aids contract development and Lexion’s exceptional capacity to offer users deep insights into their business agreements. Docusign IAM will also access Lexion’s natural language capabilities, which let users inquire about their contracts in everyday speech.

It’s interesting to note that Docusign stated it plans to keep selling Lexion’s tools separately, at least for the time being. The platform used by hundreds of businesses will continue to be accessible and upgraded, according to the company.

The firms have a shared goal of transforming the creation, management, and analysis of agreements, according to Gaurav Oberoi, Chief Executive of Lexion, who is joining Docusign as a Vice President of Product Management. “We’ll lead innovation, provide Docusign and Lexion clients with more value, and build a larger organization with in-depth knowledge of the agreement management market,” he declared.

The timing of Docusign’s acquisition of Lexion is a little odd, as there have been rumors that the company is also seeking to be acquired. The publicly traded company Docusign was reportedly seeking a sale in December. A month later, it was disclosed that Hellman & Friedman and Bain Capital, two private equity firms, had both indicated a strong desire to buy the company and were among the top bidders in an ongoing auction.

Even though it was reported that the acquisition will be finalized in a few weeks, not much has happened since then, so it’s possible that Docusign is preparing to propagate it alone.