Digital signature company DocuSign agreed to buy the intellectual property rights of Clause for an undisclosed amount. It will also hire most of the startup's team, DocuSign said in a press release on Thursday.

The San Francisco-based company said it is looking to bring contracts signed online "to life" through the use of Clause's "smart agreements" (SA).

SAs, like smart contracts, deploy computer code to execute tasks automatically, helping to increase efficiency and lower costs. They also possess the ability to integrate with blockchain systems, according to the Clause's FAQ.

New York-based Clause's technology will be used within DocuSign's Agreement Cloud platform. It can help catch erroneous data, such as bank account details, in a contract or agreement and prevent the contract from being signed.

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"It is a document that is capable of being contractually binding, comprised of natural language text and executable code, that can perform actions on external systems or using external data," Clause founder Peter Hunn told CoinDesk via email.

The acquisition forms part of a close working relationship between the two companies, with DocuSign having participated in Clause's $5.5 million Series A funding in 2019.