DocuSign Buys Contract Analytics Firm Seal Software For $188M

Docusign, which holds weight in the electronic signature field, has struck a deal to acquire Seal Software for $188 million in cash, according to GeekWire.

Seal Software, founded in 2010, advertises itself as a leader in enterprise contract analytics. The company works with others, such as Nokia, Dell and PayPal, on managing contracts. It is in competition with Seattle-area startup Icertis.

Docusign has already been working with Seal Software, selling the latter’s product as part of its Docusign Agreement Cloud. It has also invested in the company as recently as March 2019.

Seal Software has raised almost $60 billion, according to Crunchbase.

Docusign, which is based in San Francisco, operates its largest base out of Seattle, where it was originally founded in 2003.

Docusign’s third quarter revenues were up 40 percent and sat at $249.5 million. Shares for Docusign have been up 50 percent compared to last year.

With the acquisition of Seal Software, Docusign will have a new aid in developing artificial intelligence (AI) that can read and analyze contracts. Seal Software is compatible with Docusign’s Total Search, which works to let users locate documents via metadata and search through them via natural language terms.

Docusign has been doing its part to fight against the practice of phishing, or tricking victims into giving up sensitive login information, using that information to sell on the dark web or to take over the victim’s entire account.

Docusign has been working to understand potential phishing threats by employing security professionals, who explore the dark web to learn about the various types of phishing and other security threats out there. From there, the company works out how to stop an attack as well as how to predict when the phisher will attack next.

The company also does periodic tests of employee knowledge on how to assess phishing, intended to make sure employees know how to identify phishing attacks.