Legal software firm that builds remote work systems for lawyers sold for $100 million

Bala Cynwyd-based Prosperoware, which builds software and “collaboration systems” enabling lawyers to work remotely, has been purchased for more than $100 million by legal-documents management company Litera.

The deal aims to capitalize on the trend of law firms across the country merging offices and upgrading digital communications and security, even before the pandemic pressured more attorneys to work from home. The combined firms will offer a larger menu of work-sharing services to lawyers collaborating from distant locations.

Chicago-based Litera, whose platform includes systems compatible with Microsoft’s popular Teams remote-work services, announced the acquisition Tuesday but did not disclose terms of the sale, which were provided by people familiar with the deal.

The company has been expanding its business with financial backing from private equity giant HG Capital, of New York.

Prosperoware employs 150, including about 40 in the Philadelphia area, the rest in Kosovo in southeastern Europe, and at sites in India, Mexico, and elsewhere.

Prosperoware says its clients include two-thirds of the 100 largest U.S. corporate law firms. It also has clients in the U.K.

Keith Lipman, Prosperoware’s cofounder and CEO, will remain with Litera as head of strategy. Cofounder and chief technology officer Sheetal Jain will also stay on at the combined company. Philadelphia-based law firm Blank Rome advised Prospero on the sale, which repaid early investors up to nine times the capital they invested since 2018, according to people familiar with the deal.

Philadelphia-area investors included Rittenhouse Ventures, founded by mid-Atlantic venture capital pioneer Bruce Luehrs in 2016; state-funded Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, which has backed hundreds of start-ups in the region; and Robert Ciaruffoli, the veteran Northeast Pennsylvania accounting-firm executive who has become a prominent Philadelphia investor and philanthropist. Ciaruffoli and Luehrs are among Prosperoware’s directors.

Avaneesh Marwaha, Litera’s chief executive, said in a statement that the combined company’s tools will enable law firms to “automate the new matter, budget, and deal creation process” onto a single computer dashboard “to view and manage their work on platforms including iManage, NetDocuments, and Windows File Shares,” along with Microsoft Teams.

Lawyers, once concentrated in busy office centers, now work from “increasingly remote or hybrid” locations, said Lipman in a statement. “The combined solutions will provide firms with everything they need,” he added.