Australian-founded client relationship management vendor Nexl is set to acquire revenue operations startup Databall, which helps customers to plug revenue leaks and use data to maximise their client relationships. The acquisition, which will complete imminently, signals an intention from Nexl to extend its role as a data aggregator.
Databall was founded in January 2023 by CEO Andrew Hutchinson and later joined by co-founder and CTO Matthew Dobing. Hutchinson has held senior sales and marketing roles at LexisNexis Visualfiles and also CRM vendor OnePlace (which was acquired by Intapp). Dobing also worked at Visualfiles and lead the US launch of LexisNexis’ Streamline workflow and process management software.
Speaking to Legal IT Insider, Hutchinson said: “At OnePlace we were selling Salesforce to firms and integrating their data into it with the thesis that if we provided modern technology and data in one place they would want to come and break the mould. We thought the same at Intapp but as we started to look back, I realised that we hadn’t changed anything, if anything it was more confusing for partners. Some firms have done a ton of work around platforms like Salesforce to get engagement in the system but the level of human intervention and the cost is massive.
“When I left Intapp, I thought ‘We have all this data inside a law firm, it’s just sitting there and if we can get from that to something that is truly actionable, we can start to commoditise the logic behind the question that everyone in a law firm is trying to answer.”
Dobing and Hutchinson set out to make the consumption of data easier and he says: “We have built an engine that is a unified data model with analytics on top that looks for opportunities and risks across the client lifecycle.”
Leveraging external and internal data sources, Databall help partners to make better decisions around the likes of which clients to focus on and how to market to them. “The big one that people are excited about is we help partners to proactively reach out to clients,” Hutchinson says. “Not all partners have those innate skills that rainmakers have and we provide them with triggers such as ‘Did you know a case has just been filed against your client?’ or we give them financial information and news to suggest that the client might need help with restructuring work. We then provide suggestions on how to piece people together to curate the best chance of engagement.”
There are other organisations that provide external data at the point of need but Hutchinson says: “The issue is that lawyers don’t know what to do with that information. We tell them there is an issue, and then we tell them what to do about it. For example, if you have a client who has been looking at your website for a month, and in particular a certain practice, we will suggest that they could come to an event you’re hosting in two weeks and that you grab 30 minutes with them.”
Nexl, which was founded by CEO Philipp Thurner and last year raised over $10m in funding, already uses data to help organisations maximise their relationships but this will be another string to their bow. Databall will continue to be available on its own and Hutchinson says: “We can solve the data problem of how to drive more revenue and our synergies are massive, so it gives us an opportunity to differentiate ourselves in the market.”
Thurner said: “Nexl already captures over 650,000 interactions between lawyers and clients every single day. We’ve mapped over 10 million meetings and many more relationships, but now it’s time to take that a step further. With Databall, we’ll provide the tools law firms need to make better strategic growth decisions and take action when it matters most. Databall’s data-driven triggers will keep our clients focused on strategy, while Nexl continues to handle execution—because we know one without the other just doesn’t work. This acquisition feels like the perfect fit for both of us, and we couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead.”
caroline@legaltechnology.com