In April I reported the publication of the Australia report through the Global Legal Tech Report, the first of a planned series of regional reports on legal tech worldwide that will culminate in a global report in November.
GLTR has now published reports on Asia and New Zealand. Together with the Australia report, they provide an overview of the state of legal technology in the Asia-Pacific region.
Taken together, the GLTR reports on Asia, Australia and New Zealand show that the majority of legal technology companies in the region are more providers of integrated solutions than point solutions.
In Asia, 67% are integrated solution providers, while 23% are selective solution providers.
In Australia, 50% are integrated solution providers versus 33% point solution providers.
In New Zealand, 54% are integrated solution providers versus 38% point solution providers.
Although the general product types in the region are similar, there were significant differences when companies were asked how they classify their products. In Asia, document automation (56%), compliance (41%), practice management (41%), legal transactions (38%) and collaboration (38%) are the largest product segments.
In Australia, most of the products were in the areas of document automation (12%), legal transactions (8%), legal analysis (6%) and then several products with 5% each: practice management, case management, expert systems, access justice, collaboration, marketplace, compliance , Customer relationship management and knowledge management.
In New Zealand, compliance (62%) and knowledge management (54%) are the dominant product types, followed by document automation (46%), legal analysis (46%) and contract lifecycle management (31%).
Asian companies bigger
Not surprisingly, legal technology companies are larger in Asia than in Australia or New Zealand. In Asia, the average number of full-time employees in a legal technology company was 117.3, compared to 45.5 in Australia and 14.2 in New Zealand.
However, the differences in the median of the employees are less drastic. Asian legal tech companies have an average of 10 full-time employees, 7.5 in Australia and eight in New Zealand.
Regarding access to finance, GLTR found that Asian and Australian companies have better access than New Zealand companies. In Asia, 44% of legal technology companies say they have collected donations. It is 41% in Australia and 31% in New Zealand.
AI not dominant tech
A particularly interesting section of these three Asia Pac reports deals with the technologies underlying the products of legal technology companies. Because the law pays so much attention to artificial intelligence, the dominant technology is not AI, but database technology. Databases are the underlying technology for 77% of products in Asia, 42% of products in Australia and 69% of products in New Zealand.
AI is based on 62% of products in Asia, 22% in Australia and 23% in New Zealand.
In all three regions, legal tech companies are trying to increase sales of their products overseas. The reports show that this applies to 82% of Asian companies, 72% of Australian companies and 77% of New Zealand companies.
Few founders are women
When I reported on the Australian report in April, I found that it was a disappointing finding that women, as founders or co-founders of legal technology companies, are under-represented and only make up 30%. While I reported on a preliminary version of the report, the number of female founders in Australia in the current version is even lower at 21%.
In Asia the number is only slightly better, with women accounting for 30% of founders, and in New Zealand, the number is lower, with women accounting for only 17% of founders.
Pricing models
How these companies rate their products, licenses and user-based subscriptions are the most common models. The three main pricing models by region are:
Asia license (16%), user-based subscription (16%), bundled pricing and usage-based subscription at 12%.
Australia – user-based subscription (21%), license (17%) and transaction fee (13%).
New Zealand – user-based subscription (23%), usage-based subscription (20%) and license (17%).
The three reports, which cover much more than what I discussed here, can be purchased on the GLTR website for $ 399 each.
The Africa report is due next, with reports on Europe, North and Central America, South America and the United Kingdom. A global report will be released later this year. All reports can be purchased as a bundle for $ 1,500.
