Barcelona-founded legal intelligence platform vLex has been acquired by Canadian LegalTech heavyweight Clio in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at €848 million, marking Clio’s most significant acquisition to date, as the Burnaby-based company continues its expansion across the trillion-euro global legal services market.
vLex’s backers include London-based private equity firm Oakley Capital through its Origin Fund. Oakley, alongside the Faus brothers, will partially reinvest in the combined entity to capture long-term growth potential.
“This signals the onset of a transformative era in the legal industry, unlike anything we’ve seen before,” said Lluís Faus, CEO and Co-founder of vLex. “Together with Clio, we have a bold vision for the future that empowers legal professionals to go beyond traditional research and operational silos, harnessing deeper intelligence and broader impact. With the most comprehensive global legal library and firm insights, Clio and vLex are uniquely positioned to reshape the mechanics of legal work and redefine the trajectory of the profession.”
Founded in 2000 by brothers Lluís and Angel Faus, vLex has built one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive legal libraries. The platform, known for its AI-powered assistant Vincent, enables legal professionals to research and draft legal content with high precision, using a proprietary database of over one billion legal documents.
Originally focused outside of the US, vLex gained access to over one million American lawyers through its 2023 merger with Washington-based Fastcase.
Clio, established in 2008 and officially operating as Themis Solutions Inc., has grown into a leader in cloud-based legal practice management. Its platform is used by over 200,000 lawyers globally to manage scheduling, billing, document handling, and more.
This acquisition accelerates Clio’s mission to integrate both the business and practice of law under one AI-enhanced platform. It also signals the company’s growing ambition following its €763 million Series F round in July 2024, the largest software funding round in Canadian history.
“This is a watershed moment for Clio and the broader legal profession,” said Jack Newton, CEO and Founder of Clio. “For 17 years, we’ve built the foundational platform that enables law firms to operate at their highest potential. With vLex, we’re building on that foundation with technology that understands the substance of the law. By bringing together the business and practice of law in a unified platform, we’re revolutionising every aspect of legal work. This sets the stage for a future powered by agentic AI, and marks the establishment of a new industry category – one that will empower legal professionals to serve clients with unprecedented insight and precision.”
The acquisition brings together Clio’s operating system for law firms with vLex’s research and AI capabilities, including its generative AI assistant Vincent. Known for grounding citations in case law, Vincent aims to eliminate the risk of hallucinated AI responses in legal workflows – a pressing concern in the industry.
The transaction is expected to close later in 2025, pending regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Financial advisors on the deal included Goldman Sachs for Clio and J.P. Morgan for vLex.
The full implications of this acquisition could reshape the LegalTech competitive landscape, setting Clio on a path to challenge legacy players like Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis – two notable industry figures that are also investing in AI and creating similar tools.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/07/barcelona-born-vlex-joins-canadian-legaltech-giant-clio-in-e848-million-ai-powered-legaltech-merger/
