As the hype around generative AI continues, substantial progress is being made in practical AI applications for businesses. Sirion Labs, a pioneer in contract management AI, has acquired Eigen Technologies, a company specializing in document parsing and data extraction for sectors like insurance, finance, and law. This acquisition reflects the growing demand for AI in the B2B market and a trend towards consolidating enterprise IT solutions.
The financial terms of the deal between Sirion and Eigen were not disclosed. However, the context provides some insight. Eigen, led by co-founder Dr. Lewis Liu, an Oxford PhD, has developed no-code tools that extract and summarize information from complex, unstructured documents. Although Eigen has not branded its technology as generative AI, its capabilities align with this field. Eigen’s tools are user-friendly, designed for non-technical users to perform tasks such as search, insights, summaries, and compliance without needing data scientists.
Eigen has raised over $80 million, with its last known valuation in 2019 at approximately $170 million. Its investors include Goldman Sachs and Dawn Capital. Before the acquisition, Eigen had several offers, indicating it was in a strong position despite the challenging market for startups. Liu will now serve as Sirion’s Chief AI Officer, heading a new hub in London.
Sirion’s Focus and Expansion Plans
Sirion Labs, founded in India, applies AI to contract lifecycle management. Its tools, which allow users to perform conversational searches and extract contract information, are similar to Eigen’s offerings. Sirion also provides AI to parse contracts, clarify terms, determine total contract value, and identify loopholes. The company builds customizations and small language models while integrating with larger foundational LLM models.
Sirion recently raised its Series D round, initially $85 million, which closed at $110 million. The company’s valuation now stands at around $1 billion. Sirion works with over 250 large enterprises, managing more than 7 million contracts worth $800 billion. Despite not being profitable yet, Sirion has sufficient runway for one to two years and is actively looking for further acquisitions, focusing on tech-led additions rather than customer roll-ups.
Ajay Agrawal, Sirion’s CEO and founder, highlighted the consolidation trend in the AI and enterprise IT space, expecting more mergers and acquisitions in the coming 18 to 24 months. Large systems of record players like SAP, Salesforce, and Oracle have partnerships with companies like Icertis, Ironclad, and Sirion, respectively. These alliances may evolve into mergers as the market consolidates.
The acquisition of Eigen by Sirion signifies a strategic move to enhance AI capabilities in contract management and document parsing, positioning both companies to better serve their enterprise clients amidst the ongoing consolidation in the enterprise AI market.
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