ILS Raises $3M Led by Chicago Ventures to Automate Private Funds Legal Workflows

ProVision platform streamlines side letter management and MFN processes for top global law firms managing over $150 billion in fundraises

Intelligent Legal Solutions, a global legal technology company developing software to automate key processes for investment funds lawyers, today announced a Seed round led by Chicago Ventures, bringing total funding to over $3 million. ILS builds a centralized workflow system for private funds legal teams, starting with side letter management, comment memo management, and most-favored-nation process automation. Launched in 2024, the company has already transformed the funds formation landscape, counting over 10 of the world’s largest law firms as customers.

ILS customers include Cleary Gottlieb, Fried Frank, Goodwin, Paul Weiss, Proskauer, Ropes & Gray, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher. The company’s first product, ProVision, has processed over 5,000 side letters across 450-plus matters, supporting more than $150 billion in capital raised across the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Middle East in 2025 alone.

Key Insights at a Glance

  • Customer Momentum: Over 10 of the world’s largest law firms have adopted ProVision, including Cleary Gottlieb, Ropes & Gray, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, demonstrating rapid market penetration since the 2024 launch.
  • Scale Achieved: The platform processed over 5,000 side letters across 450-plus matters, supporting more than $150 billion in fundraises across multiple jurisdictions in 2025.
  • Investor Validation: Chicago Ventures leads the $3 million Seed round, bringing deep expertise in backing companies that empower traditional businesses with technology.
  • Founder Pedigree: Co-founders Fergus Plant and Jack McCarthy identified the workflow gap while practicing at Goodwin and Proskauer, combining legal domain expertise with software development through co-founder Stefano Benigni.

Addressing the Post-Close Fund Workflow Gap

ILS was born from a recognition that post-close fund workflows remain largely manual and underserved by modern software. While working in investment funds teams at leading firms including Goodwin and Proskauer, co-founders Fergus Plant and Jack McCarthy experienced firsthand the inefficiencies of tracking side letters, managing MFN processes, and maintaining compliance across spreadsheets and email threads. Together with software expertise from co-founder Stefano Benigni, they built ProVision to bring structure, automation, and reliability to these critical workflows. “We are thrilled to partner with Chicago Ventures, whose deep expertise assisting companies like ours to empower traditional businesses with technology will allow us to take our already substantial growth to another level,” said Fergus Plant, Co-Founder at ILS. The platform surgically applies AI while adhering to strict SOC 2 Type 2 protocols and maintaining GDPR compliance, enabling customers to experience less manual tracking, fewer missed issues, and more consistent processes across matters.

ProVision’s Impact at Leading Global Law Firms

The ProVision platform helps private funds teams manage side letters and MFN processes with speed and control. It brings every side letter into a single system of record, turns negotiated terms into structured, searchable obligations and elections, and streamlines MFN workflows by generating election forms that automatically track elections. Theresa Spartichino, Director of Practice Technology at Ropes & Gray LLP, said, “ProVision is an important component of our asset management technology at Ropes & Gray. Our teams adopted it quickly, and ILS incorporated attorney feedback to develop features tailored to our needs. We look forward to collaborating on additional workflows in the future.” For funds lawyers, the platform extends structured approaches beyond execution into ongoing visibility, providing clearer views of side letter obligations and elections, improving readiness for investor questions, and enabling smoother coordination throughout the fund lifecycle. Conan Hines, Director of Practice Innovation at Fried Frank, added, “What’s been most valuable for us is the operational clarity ProVision brings to a high-volume, high-stakes workflow. It helps us translate side letter negotiations into a structured record we can use across the matter, which improves consistency for our asset management team and creates cleaner visibility when clients need updates fast.”

Chicago Ventures Backs Category-Defining Platform

Chicago Ventures, an early-stage venture firm known for partnering with founders building companies in undercapitalized, high-potential ecosystems, led the Seed round. The firm’s investment validates ILS’s approach to building a unified workflow system for private funds lawyers, starting with MFN and side-letter automation and expanding into a comprehensive platform for fund formation teams. “ILS is building the workflow system for private funds lawyers, starting with MFN and side-letter automation and expanding into a unified platform for fund formation teams,” said Eric Duboe, Partner at Chicago Ventures. “ProVision’s rapid adoption across leading AmLaw firms, combined with the team’s lawyer-led and highly disciplined approach to AI, uniquely positions the company to define this category. We’re proud to lead this round and partner with the team as they scale globally.” The investment will support expansion of the ProVision platform and enable the team to fulfill an ambitious 2026 product roadmap.

Future Outlook

ILS’s rapid traction among top-tier law firms suggests significant demand for specialized workflow automation in private funds practice. With over $150 billion in fundraises processed through ProVision in its first full year, the platform has demonstrated scalability across multiple jurisdictions and regulatory environments. The combination of legal domain expertise from the founding team and disciplined AI implementation positions ILS to expand beyond side letter management into adjacent workflows that remain manual across fund formation and administration. Chicago Ventures’ backing provides both capital and strategic guidance for category creation, a specialty of the firm. As private markets continue growing and fund structures grow increasingly complex, the operational clarity and consistency that ProVision delivers will likely become expected rather than exceptional.

Conclusion

ILS’s $3 million Seed round led by Chicago Ventures validates the company’s mission to automate critical workflows for private funds lawyers. With over 10 leading global law firms as customers, more than 5,000 side letters processed, and over $150 billion in fundraises supported, ProVision has established itself as the leading platform for side letter and MFN automation. For funds lawyers seeking to replace manual tracking with structured, searchable workflows, ILS offers a proven solution.

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