Oakley Capital Investments notes that Oakley Capital Origin Fund2 is investing in vLex, an online legal information subscription platform. The trust’s indirect contribution to this deal via the Origin Fund will be about £8m.
Oakley Capital Origin Fund is partnering with the founders of vLex, a cloud-based legal information subscription platform. Founded by brothers Lluis and Angel Faus and headquartered in London, Miami and Barcelona, vLex provides over two million users with access to an online library of global legal and regulatory information including case law, legislation, journals and dockets from over 100 countries. vLex’s scalable and smart data ingestion process, coupled with AI-powered search engine functionality makes research and analysis faster and easier, increasing productivity for users. The company’s diverse customer base includes law firms, universities and law schools, government agencies and corporates across Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Caribbean, and the Americas.
vLex has consistently generated double-digit revenue growth in recent years, thanks to strong management, a differentiated product offering and market tailwinds. The company expects profits to grow more than 20% this year. The global LegalTech market is worth $21bn and growing as legal information users digitalise their business models further and amid the growing complexity and internationalisation of laws and regulations.
Oakley’s partnership with vLex builds on the firm’s significant expertise supporting digital-first, data and information platforms including TechInsights, the world’s authoritative information services platform for the global semiconductor industry. It is also Oakley’s fourth platform deal in Iberia, following the firm’s investments in property portal idealista, business software provider Grupo Primavera, and advertising technology disruptor Seedtag. Oakley’s latest investment will help vLex’s management accelerate their strategic goal of building a cost-effective leader in the fragmented market for legal research, through organic growth and M&A.
Facile.it
In addition,Oakley Capital Fund V is investing in Facile.it, Italy’s largest online price comparison platform, following the sale of Oakley Capital Fund III’s investment in the company, Fund V will acquire a minority stake in the business alongside Silver Lake. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Milan, Italy, Facile first pioneered online motor insurance brokerage, for which it is the clear market leader in Italy today. Over time, Facile successfully diversified its offering by adding new product lines including gas & power, broadband, mortgages, consumer loans and, more recently, a new car sales marketplace platform.
The fresh investment from Fund V and Silver Lake will reinforce Facile’s position as the clear leader in the Italian Online Price Comparison market, whilst continuing to invest in and broaden Facile’s product range. This will help to accelerate the company’s strong growth trajectory across its core verticals, its recently launched growth verticals as well as future potential new product launches to strengthen the value proposition to both Italian consumers and partners.
The trust’s exposure to the deal will be about £45m.
OCI : Oakley Capital Investments backs vLex