Big payday for investors Dan Kiely and AIB as Johnson Hana sold in $50m deal
The California-headquartered company has received significant backing, having raised $105m (€89m) from the likes of General Catalyst in February.
The Fox brothers have informed Johnson Hana staff in an email about the acquisition by Eudia.
In the email, seen by the Irish Independent, the brothers said that Eudia's leadership team had been rigorously assessing alternative legal-service providers across the world searching for the right one to partner with, and had decided to do so with Johnson Hana.
It included details of how the new group is raising more money to pursue an acquisition strategy, and that it is near to closing its first deal in North America.
Johnson Hana has been well backed since it was founded in 2017, with the likes of Voxpro founders Dan and Linda Kiely, and specialist investment fund BVP, investing €3.5m in the business in 2020. Enterprise Ireland, the state agency, was also an early backer.
In 2022, Johnson Hana attracted attention from investors again, in a €10.5m funding round led by AIB. The bank is set to be one of the largest beneficiaries from the deal.
Other backers set for a pay day include Brendan Coakley, the one-time chairman of Allegro, and former DCC managing director Kevin Murray.
Johnson Hana, which declined to comment, was set up by the Fox brothers with the aim of disrupting the legal-services market place. Using its technology, the business planned to take over what it regarded as the tedious, labour-intensive work that was clogging up other corporate legal departments
Over the years, Johnson Hana has attracted several big name clients, including Airbnb, LinkedIn, Tesco and Tinder. State agencies including RTÉ and Coillte have also used its services.
The company employs about 50 staff in its Dublin headquarters, with 250 consultants also working on projects for clients at any one time.
Last July, Dan Fox told the Sunday Independent that Johnson Hana had been approached by investors who were interested in achieving further consolidation in the sector.
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