How is your company disrupting part of the economy?
Legal automation technology is not new and has been around, in one form or another, for more than 20 years. In an industry known for its paper-heavy manual processes, the benefits of document automation are particularly appealing. Clarilis is a document automation system that saves lawyers a significant amount of time in producing the first draft of all forms of legal documentation. Our unique proposition lies with our proprietary platform and managed service approach. As an automation partner, with the largest team of Professional Support Lawyers (PSLs), developers, automation experts and analysts in the UK, Clarilis takes on the implementation challenges on behalf of client firms and businesses.
Why did you think the region you are based in was a good place?
Both of Clarilis’ founders are from Leamington Spa and it is a great place in terms of it being centrally located with easy access to the motorway network and with it being only just over an hour on the train to London.
The other main reason is there’s a wealth of good universities in the area which means there is access to a great calibre of graduates which is just what a high growth company needs.
Which markets does your company operate in?
Clarilis works with a large number of leading law firms and legal departments within organisations, including Addleshaw Goddard, Baker McKenzie, GoCompare, Gowling WLG, Herbert Smith Freehills, National Grid, Slaughter and May, TLT and Travers Smith. We have customers who use our platform in multiple jurisdictions worldwide and we are in the process of opening an office in Singapore.
What does your company do?
Fluence integrates AI into government departments and public sector organisations to improve decision making, automate routine tasks and verify high-stakes judgements, optimising employee time to focus on higher-value work.
Utilising cutting edge Natural Language Processing technologies, Fluence’s AI analyses 500+ linguistic characteristics to unearth new insights, quality assure existing judgements and make better-than-human predictions on your content.
Our cloud-based platform is able to process thousands of documents instantly, making it simple to deploy across your whole organisation and support employees wherever they may be based.
Why did you choose to base your company in your place or region?
Both co-founders graduated from Aston University in Birmingham and benefitted from very early-stage startup programmes such as E4F, SPEED WM and BSEEN.
We’ve stayed in Birmingham because the cost of starting a business is much lower than in other large cities. We currently work UK wide – including Northern Ireland. Being in the middle of the country means we have excellent access.
What problem is your business solving?
We are the first and only social enterprise who provides VR therapies for kids with special needs and adults with disabilities. We take those too poorly to walk swimming with dolphins, and children undergoing chemotherapy to explore space. From reducing chronic pain and alleviating anxiety, trips down memory lane and travelling the world, the experiences and therapies are endless.
Sharing these experiences with people as a nurse has been amazing. The benefits are immediately apparent as people forget their pain, breathe easier and smile more. Medical VR is already available in hospitals and has shown amazing results. However, the latest medical and therapeutic advances are inaccessible to the very children and adults they are designed for; they should not have to wait until they are already in the hospital to receive the benefits, nor should it be only for the rich or physically-able. We want to change this.
In 2020, we will be opening the very first VR therapies centre in the UK (and, as far as I know, the world). They combine hydrotherapy with VR so it truly feels like you’re swimming with dolphins and providing truly therapeutic VR experiences which are fully accessible and inclusive.
What challenges are you facing in your business?
Funding has been the biggest challenge by far. As a social entrepreneur, having to reduce our passion and impact down to informal numbers and profit can be frustrating. It’s been difficult adjusting to the business world and all their jargon, but I know that at the end of the day, the work we are doing is changing people’s lives.
