Amsterdam-based Govin, a legaltech startup that aims to bring legal insights and structured information to its users, announced that it has raised €1M in a pre-Seed round of funding. Govin says the funds will help advance its beta and bring the product to the masses.
The round was led by the Dutch Founders Fund (DFF) with participation from Innovatiefonds Noord-Holland.
A group of Angel investors, including Jelle-Jan Bruinsma (Endeit Capital), Thijs Clement (NorbruisClement), Jaap van den Broek & Quirijn van Veen (INGEN-HOUSZ), and Max van de Blaak & Sander van Woerden (Lexar Partners), also joined the round.
“One-stop governance platform”
Govin was founded by Jesse Grift and Tony Nguyen at the beginning of the year because they were frustrated that many legal processes remained unnecessarily complicated and intransparent. Important procedures, including resolution management, distributing investor rights, and compliance, were only taken seriously after it was already too late.
Govin saves time that would otherwise be spent looking for documents and examining legal clauses. Investors and founders can now make informed decisions and comply with regulations in a simple and confident manner, thanks to the centralisation of all governance data and workflows.
Grift, who has experienced the legal hotchpotch first-hand while working at a VC, says, “So many precious hours were lost digging through legal paperwork, hours better spent on scaling the company. With new regulations like the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) rolling out in 2024, reporting on your non-financial data such as your ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) becomes mandatory for all alternative investment funds.”
Grift adds, “We noticed that the “E” of Environmental and the “S” of Social were often accounted for, yet the “G” of governance remained overlooked.”
In simple terms, Govin is a network effects-driven startup that aims to make the G of ESG (governance) more transparent and actionable in order to make life easier for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.
Safeguarding continuity
Dutch Founders Fund (DFF) founding partner Hidde Hoogcarspel is aware of the difficulties that come with being a member of the supervisory board and an investor. DFF was one of the platform’s early adopters and one of the first to gain from it.
Hoogcarspel says, “As a supervisory board member at Shypple, we have drafted and signed more than 30 resolutions in the past eight months, including more than 200 signatures from 10+ co-investors. Govin allowed everyone to make an informed decision in a matter of clicks instead of reading through dozens of pages of legal documents, saving hours of time.”
Govin protects the continuity of governance inside venture capital firms and their portfolio businesses through its distinctive managed governance trail. The platform ensures a speedy and safe decision-making process for every business choice that has to be made by enabling investors and founders to view any relevant legal papers.
Govin aims to be the top governance and legal compliance solution for alternative investment funds. “Before the upcoming SFDR regulation is fully effective in 2024, Govin is keen to become your go-to platform to be compliant in a simple and confident way,” adds Grift.
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