DocuSign Rival Startup Gets $5M Seed Funding From Google

Anvil, a Silicon Valley startup working to simplify paperwork processing for businesses, has raised $5 million in seed funding, TechCrunch reported Wednesday.

What Happened

Alphabet Inc. GOOGL GOOGL subsidiary Google's artificial intelligence investment arm Gradient Ventures led the funding round, according to TechCrunch.

Anvil competes with companies like DocuSign Inc. DOCU that also help businesses make their paperwork process electronically and faster.

The startup's Chief Executive Officer Mang-Git Ng told TechCrunch that DocuSign is "great for completing and executing a document," but is "lacking when it comes to actually creating the document," a gap that Anvil is looking to fill.

Pandemic Surged Demand For Digitization, CEO Says

Ng also told TechCrunch that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic increased the demand for companies wanting to move their paperwork to digital space.

"The overall trend that we've been seeing is that people in these industries are thinking about going more digital, but generally speaking, the people who are at the forefront of that tend to be in larger organizations where squeezing a little bit more operational efficiency will save a ton of money," Ng said.

"But as we've gone into lockdown, everybody has to figure out how to do things remotely and the solutions that help people do things remotely are definitely pushing to the forefront."

Google has invested in dozens of artificial intelligence startups across sectors through Gradient Ventures.

Price Action

Alphabet Class A and Class C shares closed 0.2% lower at $1,439.25 and $1,436.38, respectively, on Wednesday. DocuSign shares closed 0.16% lower at $147.45 the same day.