H4 is a digital platform for the creation and analysis of documents.

A consortium that included JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Barclays (NYSE: BCS), and Linklaters has invested about $27 million in digital documentation start-up H4. (FinExtra)

H4, which is headquartered in London, specializes in the creation of legal and compliant documents used by the capital markets. It has approximately 120 employees, including investment bankers, technologists, corporate lawyers, and product designers.

Four leading global banks as well as 14 of the world’s leading law firms have successfully utilized the company’s technology.

How it works

Success story by Barclays Rise:

• On average, financial printing can cost up to $150,000 per transaction when issuing bonds.
• In the digital age, information is shared, amended, enhanced, stored, and distributed quicker than ever before. However, the industry is still using (very large) filing cabinets.
• H4 delivers digital smart documents that issuers, lawyers, and underwriters can collaborate and amend in real-time.
• It has a digital library of over 4,000 historical documents available to the marketplace in a structured data format.
• Once drafted, the H4 platform generates a shareable smart version of the document that is distributed to investors during the deal’s marketing phase.

“It’s extraordinary that lawyers are still sending hand mark-ups to printers and having to wait a few hours to review what they could have done digitally in a few seconds,” says Miranda Staveley, Director at H4. “Legal document drafting needs to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.”

Besides, H4 also typically costs 50-75% less than a traditional financial printer.

Remote working makes digital documentation indispensable

“The H4 team is solving the pain of using decades-old technology for the contracts that lie at the heart of the financial and legal industries,” said Joe Seifert, CEO & Co-founder of H4 said on the company blog. “We just can’t accept that such important industries are still reliant on outdated tools when technology can unlock so much more, particularly during this time of remote work.”

Use of funds

The institutional investors in the funding round, completed earlier this year, get a minority stake in H4. the company will use the funds to push further growth of the platform beyond the initial use cases and customers.

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