As The New York Times recently profiled, new startups are arising to solve the housing crisis. These startups disrupt what ex-AOL CEO Steve Case calls the “Third Wave” industries with significant social impact, such as housing, healthcare, and finance.
To survive, these companies must ensure compliance with regulations early because mistakes here can have significant social consequences. To help new entrants survive in these industries, two closely related technologies — legal technology (“legal tech”) and regulation technology (“reg tech”) — help companies navigate rules embedded in the text, such as contracts or regulations. Without them, incumbents, who have the most resources to hire lawyers to navigate these rules, are set up to dominate in the Third Wave.
Third-wave startups must tread carefully. Unaudited prefabricated housing designs might result in the use of subpar safety measures and tenant deaths during an earthquake. Oversights in financial transactions, for instance, may unintentionally facilitate money laundering. Privacy violations in healthcare data could lead to an unfair increase in insurance premiums for affected individuals.
Regulations can be complex in mitigating these social harms. For instance, the new Markets in Financial Instruments Directive has 30,000 pages in finance. Banks can spend $1 billion yearly (often 20 percent of their operational budget) to comply. Citigroup reportedly hired 30,000 lawyers, auditors, and compliance officers in 2014.
For startups, ignorance is no longer a viable strategy. In just the past three years, fintech startups have suffered more than $200 million (almost 5 percent of the total venture dollars invested over that same period) in regulatory fines: 50 percent involving consumer mistreatment and 25 percent involving privacy violations. Zenefits fired 17 percent of its staff, including its CEO, after violating insurance brokerage laws. LendingClub paused operations and cut 10 percent of its workforce after breaking state usury and unfair dealing laws.
Companies cannot — and should not — avoid their regulatory and social responsibilities.
Once infamous for its “do first, ask for forgiveness later” strategies, Uber now engages with regulators directly by building partnerships and applying for permits. VCs, such as Evan Burfield in Regulatory Hacking, argue that these strategies are critical for the next wave of startups.
This work requires not only perseverance but also tremendous resources. Large companies like J.P. Morgan or Uber have the most money and staff to navigate an increasingly complex regulatory landscape. Because of this, they are in the best position to shape the future and the Third Wave.
Legaltech and reg tech can change this trend. These technologies use anything from data analytics to decision trees to help companies navigate rules embedded in the text, such as regulations and contracts. Since technology is scalable in ways that hiring 30,000 lawyers is not, small innovators can better compete in a big company’s game.
In one example, Fenergo transformed a manual document review for Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations using text analysis and rule logic, speeding up the process by 37 percent.
Other related startups are reducing the costs associated with complying with corporate contracts (such as Ironclad), bankruptcy (such as UpSolve), zoning requirements generally (such as Envelope and Symbian), and accessory dwelling units (such as Cover), permitting processes (such as Camino.ai) and energy standards (such as Cove Tool).
Because of this environment, analysts are bullish about these technologies. In 2018, nearly $1 billion was invested in legal tech. Spending on reg tech in finance alone is estimated to rise from $10 billion in 2017 to $76 billion in 2022 (a 700 percent increase in five years). For comparison, spending on the sharing economy is estimated to rise from $18 billion in 2017 to $40 billion in 2022.
In the Third Wave, companies cannot—and should not—avoid their regulatory and social responsibilities. If the Uber and Facebook scandals indicate when a company violates laws or loses its integrity, the public and the stock market respond in kind. Journalistic coverage of breaches and unethical data practices has captured public attention. Waves of data regulation have passed across significant jurisdictions, such as China, California, and Brazil.
Embracing legal tech and reg tech can plant long-term competitive advantages. For instance, adopting technology that automates data protection can create better customer experiences. By safely analyzing more data, even smaller companies can quickly generate insights and build programs that value their customers.
Technology can empower companies, both large and small, to embrace the mitigation of social harms and promote positive impact.
Startup executives should take notice.
