Yesterday, contract management platform Ironclad announced it closed a Series C funding round worth $50 million. Ironclad said it intends to use the capital infusion to expand into more locations and grow its contracting solutions for legal teams.

The company also announced the launch of its newest software, Worklfow Designer, that allows users to create and manage contract workflows. Workflow Designer is an addition to Ironclad's contract automation, management and analysis platform.

With the new influx of cash, Ironclad said its future product line will include improving legal teams' communication abilities and enhancing data analytics.

"Building on that platform means delivering more self-service resources for legal teams, building tools to help legal teams improve their collaboration and negotiation, and helping unlock critical contract data from contracts," said Ironclad CEO Jason Boehmig in an email.

The funding spearheading that innovation includes investments from Accel, Sequoia Capital and Emergence Capital with the Y Combinator Continuity leading the funding round, according to Ironclad's press release. Accel and Sequoia are previous investors, with Accel helping the platform raise $8 million in 2017 and Sequoia leading January's $23 million investment.

Notably, Y Combinator Continuity isn't a stranger to Ironclad either. The Y Combinator Continuity is a venture capital fund of Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley-based startup accelerator. Ironclad was one of several startups to receive funding from Y Combinator in 2015.

Y Combinator Continuity said it invested in Ironclad because it was impressed by the platform's growth and innovation in contract management.

"Contracts are the way business gets done," said Y Combinator Continuity CEO Ali Rowghani in an email. "They are present in every interaction between two businesses. Despite their ubiquity, technology hasn't drastically changed the basic processes that govern how contracts are drafted, shared, and negotiated. Data in contracts is not structured and stored. Ironclad changes all of that."

Still, Ironclad isn't the only contract platform to secure investment this year. Take for instance contract management platform provider Concord, who raised $25 million during a Series B funding round nearly a year ago. By February 2019, Big Law-backed AI contract company Luminance raised $10 million, while Evisort, the AI contract management brainchild of Harvard Law School alums, obtained $2.5 million. In July 2019, smart contract technology provider Clause also secured a $5.5 million investment. 

Along with fundraising, contract management platforms have also been acquired by companies seeking to strengthen their presence in the contract market. Wolters Kluwer, for instance, acquired France-based contract manager Legisway in November 2018, while also buying contract life cycle management solutions provider CLM Matrix for $35 million in May 2019.