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Klarity, a member of the Y Combinator 2018 Summer class, wants to automate much of the contract review process by applying artificial intelligence, specifically natural language processing.
Company co-founder and CEO Andrew Antos has experienced the pain of contract reviews first hand. After graduating from Harvard Law, he landed a job spending 16 hours a day reviewing contract language, a process he called mind-numbing. He figured there had to be a way to put technology to bear on the problem and Klarity was born.
“A lot of companies are employing internal or external lawyers because their customers, vendors or suppliers are sending them a contract to sign,” Antos explained They have to get somebody to read it, understand it and figure out whether it’s something that they can sign or if it requires specific changes.
You may think that this kind of work would be difficult to automate, but Antos said that contracts have fairly standard language and most companies use ‘playbooks.’ “Think of the playbook as a checklist for NDAs, sales agreements and vendor agreements — what they are looking for and specific preferences on what they agree to or what needs to be changed,” Antos explained.
Klarity is a subscription cloud service that checks contracts in Microsoft Word documents using NLP. It makes suggestions when it sees something that doesn’t match up with the playbook checklist. The product then generates a document, and a human lawyer reviews and signs off on the suggested changes, reducing the review time from an hour or more to 10 or 15 minutes.
Screenshot: Klarity
They launched the first iteration of the product last year and have 14 companies using it with 4 paying customers so far including one of the world’s largest private equity funds. These companies signed on because they have to process huge numbers of contracts. Klarity is helping them save time and money, while applying their preferences in a consistent fashion, something that a human reviewer can have trouble doing.
He acknowledges the solution could be taking away work from human lawyers, something they think about quite a bit. Ultimately though, they believe that contract reviewing is so tedious, it is freeing up lawyers for work that requires a greater level of intellectual rigor and creativity.
Antos met his co-founder and CTO, Nischal Nadhamuni, at an MIT entrepreneurship class in 2016 and the two became fast friends. In fact, he says that they pretty much decided to start a company the first day. “We spent 3 hours walking around Cambridge and decided to work together to solve this real problem people are having.”
They applied to Y Combinator two other times before being accepted in this summer’s cohort. The third time was the charm. He says the primary value of being in YC is the community and friendships they have formed and the help they have had in refining their approach.
“It’s like having a constant mirror that helps you realize any mistakes or any suboptimal things in your business on a high speed basis,” he said.
Source: Tech Crunch Startups | Klarity uses AI to strip drudgery from contract review
Shopping for a smart TV? We have a sale you won’t want to miss.
The 55-inch LG Smart OLED B8 with AI ThinQ is currently available at Walmart for $1996.99. Normally, the TV is listed at $2999, saving you $1000 on one of LG’s best available 4K TVs.
Since this is an OLED, you know the picture will be excellent. You get colors that are much brighter and crisper, four HDR formats for blacks and whites, and support for Dolby Atmos for 3D sound. You may actually stop going out to the movies, this TV is that good. There’s also the webOS smart system for all your streaming services.
SEE ALSO: 11 of the best Bluetooth speakers, featuring options by Sony, Bose, JBL, and Ultimate Ears Read more…
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Source: Mashable | Get a new TV for your smart home with this 55-inch LG OLED B8, on sale for 00 off from Walmart
President Trump’s time in office has been punctuated by rising tension with China on a host of economic issues. He’s received bipartisan criticism for the impact of tariffs on Chinese goods and the resulting retaliation against American exports.
Democrats and Republicans have also unified over concerns about how Chinese state-associated actors are using minority investments in critical technology companies to gain sensitive information — like IP and know-how — about startups, many of them VC-backed. Policymakers are worried this technology is being used to propel Chinese advancement in emerging technology like artificial intelligence and robotics.
These concerns led to passage of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA), which was signed into law by the president on August 13. NVCA has been at the table during FIRRMA’s consideration because it stands to have a significant impact on the venture and startup ecosystem.
Who in our industry needs to understand FIRRMA going forward? Many more than you might think. VCs with foreign LPs, VCs with foreign co-investors or startups contemplating taking foreign capital are the prime examples, but given the shifting startup landscape in recent years, FIRRMA will leave a broad mark.
FIRRMA expands the power of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) to scrutinize foreign investments into “critical technology” companies for national security implications. Few in the startup world have dealt with CFIUS, but those who have understand its power and implications. It’s the opaque government entity that blew up the Broadcom-Qualcomm transaction for national security reasons and has been called the “ultimate regulatory bazooka.”
Before FIRRMA, CFIUS reviewed foreign investments for national security considerations when the investment resulted in foreign control of a U.S. entity. But minority investments used to obtain sensitive information about a company have been outside the scope of CFIUS because those investments generally don’t deliver control to the foreign investor. FIRRMA is intended to address this blind spot by greatly expanding the transactions that must be disclosed to CFIUS.
NVCA secured hard-fought changes to FIRRMA to lessen the impact on our industry. The bill has come a long way from when it was introduced. For example, under the original version we were concerned foreign LPs might need to file with CFIUS because they would not meet the exemption for passive investment. Furthermore, a sizeable chunk of foreign direct investments into startups would be picked up by the bill. Fortunately, key changes were made in the end.
Ultimately, under FIRRMA, the government will now be able to review — and potentially reject — any investment by a foreign entity in a critical technology company that gives the foreign entity:
Under this approach, the typical venture fund ought to be able to avoid a CFIUS filing because its foreign LPs won’t meet the above factors. And many direct investments into startups will also avoid filing with CFIUS unless they’re leading to board seats, non-public information about the company or decision-making capability.
Still, VCs, LPs, and startups raising capital will need to navigate FIRRMA going forward to make sure they don’t get tripped up by the new law. Doing so will likely trigger a CFIUS filing, leading to delay and expense. The fast-moving startup ecosystem will not welcome the uncertainty that comes with a 45-day initial review that is fraught with uncertainty and costs. And that expense is no small sum, as FIRRMA sets the CFIUS filing fee at 1 percent of the value of the transaction or $300,000 — whichever is less. And that doesn’t include legal fees.
It is imperative the venture industry remain vigilant on FIRRMA and related national security issues. The government is increasingly interested in how our world operates because emerging technology is impacting society and foreign capital is sometimes used to launch high-growth companies.
At NVCA, we are embracing this conversation and will hold a conference named “Emerging Technology Meets National Security” on November 14 in DC.
The NVCA will remain deeply engaged in FIRRMA as regulations are written that will define terms and set practices that affect the thrust of the bill. These issues are happening whether or not the venture industry is part of the conversation, but we only get a chance to impact decisions if we’re in the room.
Source: Tech Crunch Startups | A new foreign investment bill will impact venture capital and the US startup ecosystem
September is shaping up to be the mother of all months for Apple product announcements.
In addition to three new iPhones, Apple could use its annual iPhone launch event to unveil the long-rumored 13-inch MacBook that’s expected to replace the current (but completely outdated) MacBook Air, redesigned iPad Pros, and finally, finally ship the AirPower wireless charger that was introduced a year ago.
According to DigiTimes, an English-language Chinese publication that covers tech supply chains, Apple might announce a new 13-inch MacBook powered by Intel’s 14-nanometer Kaby Lake processors. The report predicts it’ll start at $1,200. Read more…
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Source: Mashable | Apple might announce a new 13-inch MacBook with the new iPhones
Is there anyone among us who truly LOVES disloyal people? Not Eric Trump, that’s for sure!
We know this because on Thursday night — following a week of betrayal from former family friend and White House staffer Omarosa Manigault Newman — the son of President Trump tweeted, “I truly hate disloyal people.”
I truly hate disloyal people
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) August 17, 2018
Whether or not the subtweet is about Omarosa, the people of Twitter looked past that and instead chose to rehash all the times a member of the Trump family’s proven himself disloyal.
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Source: Mashable | Eric Trump tweets that he hates ‘disloyal people’ and is swiftly reminded of his own family
Super Mario often brings back warm, fuzzy feelings of nostalgia. Memories of quick games before school or popping over to your best mate’s house after dinner for a lengthy session, cut short by bedtime.
If those memories are fading into the distance, perhaps clouded by the drudgery of grown-up things like rent and going to bed at a reasonable hour, then Super Mario Party might be here just in time to save your childhood soul.
The Super Mario Party series is coming to the Nintendo Switch system on Oct. 5 but can be pre-ordered from the Nintendo UK store for £49.00. This bundle includes the Super Mario Question Block Lamp, and you only pay on dispatch. Read more…
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Source: Mashable | 'Super Mario Party' is available to pre-order, and includes a cool lamp
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