Digital signature powerhouse DocuSign plans to integrate remote online notary services into its core suite of products after announcing an agreement Tuesday to acquire Liveoak Technologies of Austin, Texas, for $38 million in stock.
Liveoak’s technology includes video conferencing and tools for remote identity verification. Many states were already relaxing requirements for document signers to meet with a notary face-to-face, even before the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the need for contracts to be signed and executed remotely.
The deal builds on an existing relationship between the companies. DocuSign’s eSignature technology is integrated into Liveoak’s platform. DocuSign founder Tom Gonser joined the Liveoak board last year when Seven Peaks Ventures, where he’s a partner, participated in an $8 million funding round in the Austin company.
DocuSign says it will launch its new DocuSign Notary product later this summer as part of its Agreement Cloud suite. Competitors include NotaryCam, Notarize and Signix. DocuSign’s existing eNotary service doesn’t support remote notarization.
Based in San Francisco, DocuSign was founded in Seattle and maintains a large engineering operation in the region. The company reported revenue of $297 million for the quarter ended June 4, up 39% year-over-year, driven in part by the acceleration of digital approaches due to the pandemic. Its quarterly net loss was $47.8 million, an improvement of about $2 million from the year before.
The deal for Liveoak is DocuSign’s second major acquisition so far this year. The company bought Seal Software, a contract analytics and artificial intelligence company, for $188 million in a deal announced in February.
