At version one, we are big believers in the vertical SaaS opportunity. Small to mid-sized businesses have long been underusing technology. A mobile-first approach, combined with a laser-like focus on a specific vertical, can create the right toolset to help SMBs achieve huge productivity gains (I wrote about this nearly a year ago for TechCrunch).

That’s why I’m excited to announce our new investment. Clio is the leader in providing legal practice management software in the cloud. 80 percent of the legal market is made up of solo practitioners and small firms. These professionals have little support staff and no IT department…meaning they’re typically overwhelmed with all the administrative parts of their business.  That’s where Clio comes in. They’ve moved all of practice management to the cloud, including time tracking, invoicing, case management, client contact, etc.

Over the past two years, I’ve been sitting on Clio’s board for ActonCapital (who led Clio’s Series B). Over that time, I’ve been incredibly impressed with the ambition of the two founders, Jack Newton and Rian Gauvreau, as well as their amazing customer and product focus. While the legal industry has been slower to keep pace with technological advancements, it’s definitely ripe for disruption – and smaller firms are quicker to adopt new tools than larger ones. Clio now joins fellow vertical SaaS companies in the V1 portfolio, including Front Desk (scheduling/client management) and Jobber (field service).

Leading this round is Bessemer Venture Partners, with Trevor Oeschlig and Brian Feinstein joining Clio’s board. I’ll be remaining on Clio’s board for Acton and am looking forward to helping Jack and Rian build an even more impressive company and product.

Please join me in officially welcoming Jack, Rian, and their entire team to the version one community.

Related articles

• Clio Revamps its Look and Rolls Out a Suite of New Features (virtual-strategy.com)
• Clio takes law conferences to Cloud 9 (business.financialpost.com)
• Silverbach joins Clio as part of aggressive growth strategy (business.financialpost.com)
• Vancouver Startup Clio Raises $18M to Help Lawyers Cut Inbox Clutter (blogs.wsj.com)