The Observer's Chair
Lawpath's largest shareholder feels unappreciated. He has begun selling. The Mediterranean awaits.
Lawpath has spent a decade selling small businesses a way around lawyers. Then Australia's oldest bank arrived with $10 million. The press release said partnership. The register says preference.
The Cheque: how Lawpath raised $10 million from Westpac
He was well qualified. Lawpath, the Sydney legal technology platform he co-founded, had raised $7.5 million the year before. It was "not making a profit", he said, "but we are not that far off". The next raise had been pencilled in for about then. The market had other ideas. Valuations had collapsed, investors were hoarding cash for companies they already owned, and Mr Woolrych, sensibly, was in no hurry.
"I think we could go out to the market with our results and raise funds," he said, "but they probably just wouldn't be at the great terms that we want. And so we've decided to push our capital raise back. Six months at least, probably early 2023."
Early 2023 came and went. So did the rest of 2023, and all of 2024.
The next share issue on Lawpath's register arrived in February 2025. It was for $10 million. It came from Australia's oldest bank.
Westpac announced the investment the way banks announce most things: warmly, and without numbers. The bank said it "aligns with Westpac's strategy to partner with companies which offer our customers services to help run their business and make the complex simple." Mr Woolrych said Lawpath was "delighted to partner with Australia's oldest bank and company to help more businesses to get started and grow." The arrangement came with an "exclusive partnership", under which Westpac's small business customers would be pointed towards Lawpath's subscriptions, priced from $39 to $179 a month, for their legal, company setup and compliance needs.
The trade press printed the press release. Nobody printed the terms.