Reynen Court today (21 September) announced the launch of an online stock offering that will open up its Series A investment round to individual shareholders outside of its current law firm and VC backers.
Founded in 2018, Reynen Court provides a platform, akin to an app store, that makes it easier for law firms and legal departments to find, test, adopt, and manage third-party cloud-based software applications without having to relinquish control over their data.
Venture funds and four top law firms have invested $19 million of initial capital to date.
The new online offering, which will be conducted under Rule 506(c) of the federal securities laws and accessible at https://invest.reynencourt.com, is an extension of the company’s recently completed financing round led by Ventech, a $1 billion global venture capital fund.
Speaking to Legal IT Insider about why the extra funding is necessary, founder and CEO Andrew Klein said: “Like all early stage companies, smart development requires you to balance between having too much cash (very dilutive rounds from raising too much too early) or too little (big trouble if you wait too long to raise the next round.) I think we are managing that well, but in the current economic climate we are also not looking to be too clever.
“We have a healthy cash runway and the business (the important point) is growing steadily with increasing momentum. But given the current market conditions we greatly prefer pushing out the date at which we will raise a larger Series B.
“So the question is, how best to do that. And if you follow the threads through my personal history, it should not surprise you that we are settled on a highly atypical path: raising some additional capital from the people who understand the problem-set we address, and share our passion for the future we envision.
“As you know, Reynen Court has benefited incredibly from the amazing support we have had from our consortium law firms and especially from the four great firms that also became shareholders. From these firms we have learned so much about the needs of large firms; they have also helped us develop standards and to meet and influence application vendors. We think is just makes perfect sense to now try to deepen our alignment with as many other lawyers and legal tech enthusiasts – and getting them to invest some money with us creates a super powerful bond, while providing us with the additional capital that extends our runway.”
He added: “I would also note that we are making the current offering available to individual investors on the same terms and at the same price as recently negotiated by our institutional shareholders (notably Ventech (a billion dollar VC), Latham & Watkins and Clifford Chance). And we are not ashamed to say the valuation was lower than the valuation we initially secured – that is just the way the market works. And obviously the stock market has not been easy on technology stocks over the recent quarters. My point is that, I believe we are making a very fair offer to the public investors we are now inviting to join in the Series A.”
Klein founded Reynen Court with a consortium of 20 of the world’s largest law firms to help him develop the business from its first phase. More recently Reynen Court formed a second consortium of 22 of the most influential corporate legal departments. The global law firms Latham & Watkins, Clifford Chance, Nishimura & Asahi, and Orrick were early investors.
“We believe passionately in the power of community,” said Klein. “We intend to secure capital to fuel further growth and at the same time greatly enhance our alignment with the larger legal community—the very lawyers, technologists, and innovation professionals who are the real drivers of our industry’s future.”
This is not Klein’s first online capital raise. His first company after leaving Cravath was a microbrewery called Spring Street Brewing Co. In 1995, he had the idea to raise capital for the brewery by offering shares through the internet to the growing community of craft beer consumers. The beer company raised a few million dollars in what became widely recognized as the world’s first online stock offering.
The offering is open to U.S. Accredited Investors. To access the offering, visit https://invest.reynencourt.com.