In its fourth acquisition in less than 12 months, Onit has extended its reach into Europe with the acquisition of Frankfurt-based corporate legal spend and matter management provider BusyLamp.
Onit, which is based in Houston, said that the deal means it is now one of the largest global enterprise legal management conglomerates, with more than 600 implementations completed worldwide by Onit and its subsidiaries SimpleLegal and now BusyLamp. Onit announced its acquisition of legal spend analytics, benchmarking and market intelligence company Bodhala on September 1. In late 2020 it acquired ‘AI as a service’ startup McCarthyFinch and then document automation provider AXDRAFT 30 days later. Onit also acquired SimpleLegal, a modern legal operations software provider, in May 2019.
BusyLamp has a broad customer base that includes many of Europe’s largest enterprises. The software company grew annual recurring revenues by more than 60% in the last 12 months, and Hyperion Research recognized it as “highly innovative” and a “market leader.”
“The acquisition of BusyLamp fulfills several strategic priorities for Onit. First, it will be a valuable contributor to our continued rapid growth. Second, it embeds Onit and its solutions even more deeply into Europe. With the BusyLamp team, we have some of the brightest minds in legal operations and technology on the ground in Germany, the UK and throughout the continent – experts who understand European customers’ unique needs. We’re now one of the largest ELM software providers in the world, with software that fits any corporate legal department’s requirements regardless of size or location,” said Eric M. Elfman, CEO and co-founder of Onit.
“Our mission at BusyLamp has always been to provide in-house counsel with the information, data, trust and tools they need to focus on the strategic management of their legal finances. By combining with Onit, we will greatly expand on this mission with a wider breadth of technology offerings, a full suite of legal and compliance solutions and immediate access to the leading legal AI and spend management experts,” commented Michael Tal, co-CEO and co-founder of BusyLamp.
Marks Baughan served as financial advisor to BusyLamp, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher served as legal advisor. Osborne Clarke and Morris, Manning & Martin served as legal advisors for Onit.