DocuSign’s Notary Deal Expands Digital Offering in Covid-19 Era

(Bloomberg) -- DocuSign Inc.’s $38 million acquisition of Liveoak Technologies will expand the company’s digital signature offerings as more people look to do notarized transactions remotely because of Covid-19.

Liveoak’s technology will enable notarized transactions over video, helping DocuSign more fully address the needs of the estimated 4-5 million notaries in the U.S., Morgan Stanley analyst Stan Zlotsky said in a note. It’s an “opportune time for the launch of the new solution” with 23 states already accepting remote online notary and many others working on temporary legislation during the pandemic, he said.

The service will likely be used in the near term by large enterprises with in-house notaries but could expand to address the entire market over time, Zlotsky said.

Shares of the San Francisco-based company are trading at a record and rose another 3% on Wednesday after the deal was announced. Morgan Stanley maintains an equal-weight rating on DocuSign and a price target of $170, about 17% below the current price.

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