What The Contract Network does

The Contract Network (TCN) is an Atlanta-based, venture-backed software company that developed an AI-powered contract collaboration platform purpose-built for clinical trial agreements. Founded in 2023 by Jim Wagner (formerly VP at DocuSign and President of Seal Software), Phil Richards (formerly CTO at Clairvoya and SVP at Bank of America), Maya Pochiraju (formerly VP at Blackstone and COO at Payability), and Bill Murphy (formerly CTO at Blackstone and founding CTO of Capital IQ), with Jeff Ward of the Duke Center on Law & Technology serving as Special Advisor, the company addresses a core bottleneck in clinical research: clinical trial agreement (CTA) negotiations typically take 2–3 months per agreement, with industry estimates citing $600,000 to $8 million in daily financial impact from trial startup delays. The platform uses natural language processing, generative AI, anomaly detection, and knowledge retrieval to read agreements, extract 400+ structured data points in minutes, generate playbook-aligned redlines, surface cross-document inconsistencies between protocols, budgets, CDAs, and informed consent forms, and identify budget gaps before first calls — capabilities co-developed with Mayo Clinic under a know-how agreement.

The product portfolio comprises the core AI-Powered Contract Collaboration Platform, an add-on module called Study Startup Intelligence (launched April 2026) that extends analysis to the full portfolio of start-up documents, and an AI Markup feature for clinical sites that produces first-draft redlines from institutional playbooks in minutes rather than hours. Distribution is delivered through three channels: direct enterprise sales to clinical trial sites, sponsors, and CROs; integration with Florence Healthcare's eISF platform (connecting to 37,000+ sites across 90 countries); and a channel partnership with Huron's managed services for academic medical centers. The company is SOC 2 Type II compliant, adheres to CHAI principles, and explicitly prohibits model training on customer data. Revenue is generated through enterprise SaaS subscriptions with quote-based pricing billed annually, supplemented by professional services for implementation and onboarding.

In April 2026, WCG — a global provider of clinical research solutions — agreed to acquire The Contract Network to integrate its AI capabilities into WCG's ClinSphere platform, effectively ending TCN's independent operating trajectory and folding the team and technology into WCG's site enablement ecosystem.

Name

The Contract Network

Legal name

The Contract Network, Inc.

Website

https://thecontractnetwork.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Contract Network is an AI-powered contract collaboration platform purpose-built for clinical trial agreements. It serves sponsors, CROs, and research sites by accelerating CTA negotiations, automating playbook-aligned redlines, and identifying inconsistencies across study startup documents.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Clinical Trial Contract Lifecycle Management Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Clinical Trial Site Operations & Study Coordination (HLAGACAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Clinical Trial Informatics (EDC/CTMS/eCOA/eTMF) (HLAGAJAM), Site & Investigator Platforms (Site Payments, Feasibility, Activation) (HLACAOAJ), Patient Recruitment, Site Feasibility & Trial Enablement CROs (HLAGAAAI)

Keywords

• Clinical trial contracts
• Contract lifecycle management
• AI contract analysis
• Study startup automation
• Clinical research software

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. SaaS Platform Subscription: AI-powered contract collaboration platform delivered as a subscription service. The platform is described as being integrated into WCG's ClinSphere platform following acquisition, suggesting enterprise SaaS pricing.
2. Professional Services: Implementation and onboarding services to help institutions adopt the platform, including training and integration support.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Contract Network develops and sells an AI-powered contract collaboration platform purpose-built for clinical trial agreements and study startup workflows. The platform uses generative AI to analyze, compare, and markup contracts against institutional playbooks and market standards, enabling sponsors, CROs, and research sites to negotiate clinical trial agreements in minutes rather than hours. An add-on capability, Study Startup Intelligence, extends AI-driven inconsistency detection across the broader portfolio of study documents (protocols, budgets, CDAs, consent forms).

Product overview

The Contract Network offers a unified AI-powered platform for clinical trial agreement collaboration. The core offering is the AI-Powered Contract Collaboration Platform, which provides AI-generated redlines, document comparison, real-time chat with study documents, and automated extraction of 400+ data points. An add-on module, Study Startup Intelligence, extends analysis across the entire portfolio of study start-up documents (protocols, budgets, CDAs, informed consent forms, manuals, feasibility questionnaires), surfacing inconsistencies at the document creation stage. The AI Markup feature for clinical sites generates first-draft redlines from playbooks in minutes. All capabilities feed into a shared, neutral platform where sponsors, CROs, and research sites collaborate on contracts and budgets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AI-Powered Contract Collaboration Platform The primary platform enabling sponsors, CROs, and research sites to collaborate on clinical trial agreement negotiations with AI-powered document analysis, AI-generated redlines, document comparison, real-time chat with study documents, automated extraction of 400+ data points, and compliance checking against playbooks.
• Study Startup Intelligence An AI intelligence layer that analyzes the entire portfolio of study start-up documents—including protocols, budgets, CDAs, informed consent forms, manuals, and feasibility questionnaires—to identify inconsistencies and risks early, before they delay trial activation.
• AI Markup for Clinical Sites AI-generated redlines for clinical trial agreements produced from institutional playbooks in minutes rather than hours. Includes first-draft AI markups of the most common research agreements with comparison to market standards and internal benchmarks. Targeted at clinical sites as a standalone capability.

Quantifiable outcome

• AI redlines ready in minutes, not hours
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• WCGcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 April 2026WCG acquired The Contract Network on April 21, 2026. The acquisition integrates TCN's AI-powered contract and study start-up technology into WCG's ClinSphere platform. WCG CEO Sam Srivastava stated the acquisition accelerates their AI roadmap by bringing specialized intelligence into their site enablement ecosystem.
• Mayo CliniccoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 April 2023Mayo Clinic entered into a know-how agreement with The Contract Network to co-develop a solution for clinical trial agreement management. TCN's technology was co-developed in collaboration with Mayo Clinic, ensuring the solution addresses real-world clinical trial agreement challenges and regulatory requirements.
• Florence HealthcareflagshipTechnology or IntegrationPartnership integrates TCN capabilities with Florence Healthcare's eISF and remote access platform, connecting to 37,000+ sites in 90 countries. Partnership extends efficiencies into negotiating CTAs and research-related agreements, helping trials move faster from first draft to final signature.
• HuroncoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorHuron is a global professional services firm providing managed services for research operations including contract negotiation, coverage analysis, and budgets. Huron integrates TCN capabilities into their managed services offerings for research offices and academic medical centers.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Florence Healthcare: Florence Healthcare provides the leading eISF and site enablement platform for clinical trials, connecting 37,000+ sites globally. It is both a TCN distribution partner and the most directly comparable site-enablement workflow vendor, addressing the same academic medical center and sponsor buyer.

Broad incumbents

• Veeva Systems: Veeva's Vault suite, including Vault CTMS and Vault Study Startup, is the dominant sponsor-side clinical trial operations platform. It overlaps with TCN's contract and study-startup workflow scope as part of a much broader life sciences cloud offering.
• Medidata Solutions (Dassault Systèmes): Medidata's Rave Clinical Cloud and study startup tools serve large pharma and CROs running global trials. It competes with TCN at the trial activation and operational data layer, albeit as part of a broader EDC/CTMS portfolio.
• WCG: WCG is now TCN's parent company and the broader clinical trial services and technology incumbent whose ClinSphere platform absorbs TCN's capabilities. It is the most direct large-scale buyer/distributor of TCN's functionality.
• IQVIA: IQVIA is the largest global CRO with embedded technology for trial planning, site activation, and contract management. Its scale and integrated services make it a structural incumbent against niche AI tooling like TCN.
• DocuSign: DocuSign's Agreement Cloud (incorporating Seal Software and Concord) is the dominant e-signature and contract intelligence platform. TCN's CEO led Seal and DocuSign's Agreement Cloud strategy, and DocuSign remains the closest large-scale horizontal competitor in AI contracting.
• Icertis: Icertis is a leading enterprise contract lifecycle management platform with strong AI-driven clause and obligation analysis. It competes with TCN at the contract intelligence layer across pharma and other regulated industries.

Emerging players

• Evisort (Workday): Evisort is an AI-native contract analysis and management platform acquired by Workday. It overlaps with TCN's playbook-driven markup and metadata extraction capabilities for general commercial agreements.
• LinkSquares: LinkSquares is an AI-powered contract lifecycle and analytics platform focused on legal teams. It is a comparable emerging legaltech peer pursuing AI-driven contract intelligence, though not specialized in clinical trial workflows.
• Castor: Castor is a clinical trial EDC and ePRO platform used by sponsors and CROs to accelerate trial operations. It is an emerging peer in the broader digital clinical trial tooling ecosystem where TCN competes for the same buyer budgets and workflow mindshare.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Contract Network