Tip #3, Learn how to invest in times of crisis with SeedLegals
SeedLegals, the new #Fintech startup of the HEC Incubator's "Winter" batch, offers an adapted solution to facilitate the financing of startups in this constrained period.
In these times of confinement, the world of entrepreneurship and fundraising is specially impacted. When most economic activities slow down or are forced to "stand-by", it is a very difficult time for business financing. In response to the continuing uncertainty, some investors have made the choice to withdraw or suspend their investments until further notice. Fortunately, alternative solutions exist and give us reasons to be optimistic.
Today, we present a useful solution for investors and entrepreneurs: the SaaS platform SeedLegals.
SeedLegals, a complete solution for starting, funding and growing your business
Real catalyst of the UK startup ecosystem with more than 1,000 funding rounds closed through their platform, Seedlegals was created in 2017 by Laurent Laffy (HEC 85), business angel, and Anthony Rose, serial entrepreneur.
By offering digital tools to manage their fundraising operations, SeedLegals accelerates the investment process and supports startups in their development. Entrepreneurs and investors can thus negotiate and conclude their transactions on the same platform with efficiency and transparency. The entrepreneur can rely on SeedLegals' expertise, built on the systematic analysis of the volume of data collected, to quickly negotiate their investment deals reflecting best market practices and automatically generating all the corresponding legal documentation.
For the entrepreneur, SeedLegals thus completes the existing range of digital solutions to digitize the management of their startup (HR, payroll, accounting, marketing...). The SaaS subscription offers include cap table management tool, employment contract templates and the implementation of an employee equity scheme in the form of option plans (BSPCE).
The legal documentation is completely customisable and adaptable to match to the configuration of the funding round or the employee equity plan. Key terms are collected through a user-friendly question and answer workflow that is used to generate the documents. By reducing the cost and complexity of equity operations, SeedLegals has popularised the concept of "agile financing": allowing startups to finance themselves continuously, with multiple fundraising operations according to their needs and investment opportunities, to ensure consistent growth.
Last year, the company raised 3.5 million euros from Index and Kima VCs to finance its international development. Its new concept: borderless legals, a unified framework for fundraising and employee equity incentives with the localization of the documents carried out by the platform, in the local legal environment.
Accompanied by the HEC Incubator at Station F , SeedLegals aims to boost the French Tech ecosystem by bringing transparency and efficiency to the financing of French start-ups. The ambition is then to develop more widely internationally.
HEC Incubator as a playground!
The team now benefits from the support of the entire HEC ecosystem and contributes in return to supporting its entrepreneurs: Julien Seligmann intervenes on issues related to entrepreneurship, operations and financing. Florent Artaud acts as an expert at the HEC Incubator to advise start-ups on financing and capital sharing operations. Felix Letellier-Merida is in charge of relations with incubators and startup studios in France.
"What impressed me the most with SeedLegals is the ease and agility with which you can finance your startup. I was able to generate the documents, share them with 3 different investors, get them signed and receive the funds in just 48 hours! I can also share with them my cap table which is updated automatically. This is awesome!" Thomas Reygagne, founder of Kraaft.co incubated at HEC Incubator.
By favouring a strong interaction with the HEC ecosystem, SeedLegals can adjust its offer to the needs of entrepreneurs at different stages of development, and in return contribute to reinforcing the dynamism and solidity of the companies in the network.