Lexis Create+, formerly Henchman

Overview

Lexis Create+ began as Henchman, a contract drafting company founded in Ghent in 2020 by Gilles Mattelin, Jorn Vanysacker and Wouter Van Respaille. The technology indexes documents at clause level inside a document management system, mirrors that system's permissions, and works across multiple languages. Henchman raised 1 million euro at launch and closed a 3 million euro seed round in February 2022 led by Pitchdrive. A 6.5 million euro Series A followed on 2 March 2023, co-led by Adjacent and Acton Capital, bringing total funding to 10 million dollars. At that point the company had more than 100 customers across 15 countries and 35 staff. LexisNexis Legal & Professional announced an agreement to acquire Henchman on 3 June 2024 and completed the deal on 22 July 2024, with more than 170 legal and corporate customers on the books. On 27 January 2025 LexisNexis launched Lexis Create+, built on the Henchman technology, in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

Funding history

• 2021 launch round: 1M EUR, announced at launch
• 2022 Seed: 2M EUR extension closing the seed round at 3M EUR, led by Pitchdrive, with Wim De Waele, Frederik Vandermarliere and members of the management team
• 2023 Series A: 6.5M EUR (7M USD) co-led by Adjacent and Acton Capital, with Conviction VC and angels Louis Jonckheere, Pieterjan Bouten, Felix Van de Maele and Bram Couvreur
• 2024 Acquisition: Acquired by LexisNexis Legal & Professional, completed 22 July 2024, terms not disclosed

Stated facts & numbers

• Founded: 2020
• Headquarters: Ghent
• Founders: Gilles Mattelin, Jorn Vanysacker, Wouter Van Respaille
• Owner: LexisNexis Legal & Professional, since 22 July 2024
• Current name: Lexis Create+, launched 27 January 2025
• Total raised: 10M USD before acquisition
• Reported acquisition price: 160M USD, terms not disclosed by the parties
• Customers at acquisition: 170+ legal and corporate customers
• Named customers: CMS, YPOG, Grant Thornton, Kinstellar, Cuatrecasas
• Staff at Series A: 35 (2023)
• DMS integrations: iManage, NetDocuments, SharePoint, Google
• Markets at Lexis Create+ launch: United Kingdom, Canada, United States