Three of the interviewees 325 also highlighted the attractiveness of Wales as a start-up environment, perceived as supportive and providing easier access to Government than other countries. According to Tim Barnett (CEO, Credas), “One of the beautiful things of living in South Wales is that it’s easy to pick up the phone and access government.” Manoj Khetia (CEO, Identitech) observed that “The thing about Wales is that because it is a smaller ecosystem, it is easier to get to the investors which I think is great. It's a close- knit environment and I think that's why it's supportive.” Welsh Government support was specifically named as a positive and influential factor. Jason Wheatley (COO, Wyser) noted that “Wales is a great place to be because there is lots of support from the Welsh Government. You can get offices at a reduced rate if you can prove that you're coming here. There's lots of help for SMEs”. While this sentiment is corroborated by the Start Up Wales 2023 report 326 , in which various start-ups were interviewed by the Coalition for a Digital Economy (COADEC), the report also found that most start-ups felt that the Government lacked a plan for “targeted long-term support 327 ”. Motivations to enter the LegalTech market stem from two key opportunities. First, improving efficiency in legal services: “The role of technology is to provide a solution to a problem and that solution should include efficiency and if it does that, then you will be rewarded commercially” (Credas). Secondly, addressing long-standing issues, in particular for client onboarding and compliance, which fall in the top five of LegalTech tools purchased by UK firms (with 44% using LegalTech compliance software). 328 Among our interviewees, Identitech, Credas and Validient operate in the client onboarding industry, offering KYC checks, identity verification, and anti-money laundering solutions. Wyser, on the other hand, employs artificial intelligence to improve data collection and customer engagement for various industries (mainly finance, banking, and credit risk), promising greater efficiency and cost savings. b) The characteristics of their business The interviewees generally accept the categorization of their business as a LegalTech company: “I think we would absolutely classify us as LegalTech” (Identitech) and “100% we are LegalTech” (Wyser). However, two interviewees suggested that a strict classification is not possible, as their services can be provided to customers operating in different industries: Sometimes people refer to us as FinTech, as RegTech, as prop tech, as law tech or legal tech, edgy tech. We're one of those firms that span all of those and that's largely as a result of our compliance background and heritage. Because all of those sectors need AML checks and require compliance clearly. Ultimately, I don't mind what people call us. The legal sector is our biggest sector, outside of initial estate agents. We're growing very strongly in there. (Credas) 325 After introducing them, we refer to the interviewees just by their affiliation. 326 Elis Thomas, Dom Hallas & Frances Lasok, “Startup Wales: The startup ecosystem, its challenges and opportunities’” (COADEC, March 2023), 16, available at https://coadec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Wales-Report-March-2023-FOR- RELEASE.pdf. 327 Ibid, 16. 328 Thomson Reuters Institute, “State of the UK legal Market 2022”, figure 7, available at https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/reports/state-of-the-uk-legal-market-2022.html.
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