As law firms and corporate legal departments alike look for ways to drive practical growth through technology, contract management platforms have seen a surge in popularity in 2018. And now, with the legal industry's eyes on handling contracts in a more efficient manner, venture capitalists have begun to take notice as well.

On Tuesday, contract management platform provider Concord announced that the company has raised $25 million in its Series B funding round. The round is led by a new investor to the company, Tenaya Capital, and also includes previous investors CRV and Alven. As part of the deal, Tenaya Capital partner Paul Drews will join the Concord board.

With the additional funding, Concord said it will focus on accelerating development of its core platform, increasing head count across its engineering, sales, HR and marketing teams, and advancing international expansion.

The current Concord platform is heavily focused on collaboration and automation—the company touts “a single, collaborative and intelligent environment” that brings together internal legal, finance, procurement and sales teams with outside third parties in a central digital location. According to a statement from Drews, it was this type of digital transformation that caught the venture capital firm's eye.

“With 95 percent of contracts managed manually, organizations struggle with the ensuing business inefficiencies and vulnerabilities,” Drews said. “[Concord CEO] Matt Lhoumeau and his leadership team have already steered the company into a leadership position in the contract management market. We are excited to partner with Concord as it scales and builds a global, category-defining company in this multibillion-dollar market.”

The focus on automation in the contract management space mirrors the view Concord has touted for a while. Writing in a contributed article for Legaltech News in June, Concord senior director of finance Chase Bradshaw explained, “A simple task that takes hours can be automated to free up time to focus on delivering strategic value. As this strategy component grows, legal turns from a cost center to a profit center, which catches the attention of the executive suite.”

The Concord investment continues a busy fall for legal technology investment. Earlier in October, software company Apttus, which counts among its products a contract lifecycle management solution, announced a new majority investment from Thoma Bravo. UnitedLex, Atrium and Kira Systems are among the legal technology companies that have also announced new investors since the beginning of September.