“Find a problem, solve a problem. The business comes second…” is a well-known adage in the startup world and one Latch has taken to heart.

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After a brief stint at NZ law firm Bell Gully, Latch’s Co-founder and law graduate Min-Kyu Jung found that both he and others were left somewhat frustrated with how much time they spent on routine administrative contracting tasks. Latch solves this problem by helping companies automate contracting processes while staying on top of important contractual obligations. Designed to be used by in-house legal teams, Latch allows lawyers to focus on legal rather than administrative work.

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Off the back of this ‘problem solving’, Latch has secured a 1.4M USD pre-seed round, with investors including GD1, Craft Ventures, Phase One Ventures and Daniel Gross, and will soon launch into the US.

GD1, who invested in the pre-seed round, recently nominated self-taught coder Min-Kyu for the Forbes 30 under 30, labeling him “A pioneer in the legal tech space who has created options and opportunities for other legal grads to 'break the mould' by blazing an innovation trail in an industry ripe for disruption.”

“GD1 has been super generous with their time and expertise. GD1 has been instrumental in helping us with our go-to-market strategy and gaining meaningful media traction ,” says Min-Kyu.

We share a little more about their journey...

Key statistics

Company stage: Pre-seed
Founded in: 2021
Staff count: 5
Locations:  Based in Auckland, expanding to the US and servicing worldwide
Other ‘vitals’:
- Helps customers create contracts, collect approvals and send for signing faster than traditional methods
- Tackling the US$700b legal services market
- Funding from top-tier investors across the US and NZ

What problem does Latch solve?

“Contracts are the most important business innovation in human history, but the process of working with them needs a major upgrade,” believes Min-Kyu.

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Latch addresses a gap in the mid-market segment where small teams of highly qualified lawyers don’t have anyone to delegate more mundane, routine contracting work to. These teams are usually understaffed and overqualified for administrative contracting tasks.

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Latch empowers in-house legal teams to focus on legal work, rather than administrative work, by automating routine contracting processes. The software enables legal teams who want to work more efficiently to accelerate contracting cycles, reduce errors and extract valuable commercial insights from their contracts.

Why is Latch such a well-loved product?

Latch helps legal teams set up efficient contracting processes, and helps sales teams close contracts faster without being slowed down by manual approval processes.  

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Advanced tracking and alerts for contract expirations and renewals means that organisations can easily stay on top of contractual obligations. What’s more, contracts are all kept in a searchable repository, allowing users to review key contract metadata at a glance.

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Latch also integrates easily with existing tools so that teams don't need to change their business processes and with an industry-leading 14-day implementation timeline, ROI is almost instant.

Why did Latch seek funding?

Latch plans to use the funds raised through its latest round to launch their digital contracting product. In addition, they’ll invest in bringing their ambitious go-to-market strategy into the US to life.

Why is Latch a great investment for GD1?  

The Latch team has developed several important and unique insights into the digital contracting market. This market is a still-nascent space without a clear category leader and low but rapidly increasing user adoption. The opportunity is enormous – contracts are central to several significant business processes, and the emerging category leader will become one of the most important companies in the world.

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The Latch team’s unique insights, combined with the team’s focus on delivering great user experiences, means that they have a strong chance of being one of these companies. We’re excited to support this ambitious team to grow into a market ripe for disruption.

For more information please visit

Website: https://www.latchapp.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/latchapp/

Media

16th September 2022, NBR - https://www.nbr.co.nz/professional-services/new-kiwi-legal-tech-firm-latch-launching-into-the-us/

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