disruption and innovation group

TECH EXPERTS

Disruption and Innovation Group

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DISRUPTION AND INNOVATION GROUP

Introduction

With a deep heritage in Silicon Valley and one of the most active technology practices globally, DLA Piper is a leading advisor to fast growth tech companies and investors in them.

We advise many of the world’s best known fast growth tech companies, non-tech companies investing in technology and leading venture capital funds and corporate venture funds. Our technology sector focus has enabled us to play a leading

role internationally on tech mergers and acquisitions (M&A), tech equity capital markets and venture capital transactions. We also have a well-regarded startup and corporate venture practice.

Building on this expertise, DLA Piper formed its Australian Disruption and Innovation Group (“DIG”) – a group dedicated to disruptive technology and to the transactions and legal support required to maximise returns for our innovative clients. The global expertise that DIG can draw on make DLA Piper a preferred choice for fast growth tech in Australia.

Advising across the tech lifecycleStartup Best PracticeWe advise entrepreneurs on best practice across the startup lifecycle. We act for a number of unicorns, giving us invaluable insight into what is required to get startups right

Fund EstablishmentESVCLP and corporate venture fund experts

Global ExpansionWe advise on all aspects of global expansion for tech companies, from tax structuring through to data protection compliance and developing global growth strategies. We have more than 90 offices in over 40 countries with leading tech experts in all regions

Venture CapitalWe act for leading funds globally and for companies raising capital from VC funds

Tech IPOsCombining strong tech expertise in pre-IPO capital raisings and a leading equity capital markets practice, we prepare entrepreneurs for the challenges of public markets, while continuing to support a lean and innovative culture. We can draw on leading global venture capital expertise and networks unavailable to other Australian firms. This can enable VC funding to be explored alongside an IPO

Intellectual Property StrategyWe can advise on all aspects of IP registration, protection and defence

Corporate Venture and InnovationWe are pre-eminent advisors to corporate venture and innovation teams globally. We help build CV teams and advise on all aspects of CV strategy implementation

Tech M&AWe regularly advise on high profile and complex tech M&A in the Asia Pacific region, on both the buy side and sell side. We know what is required to maximise an investment return and mitigate risk

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Why DLA Piper

We have leading tech sector experts throughout our more than 90 offices internationally. This enables us to understand best practice for fast growth tech companies and has assisted us to become one of the most active advisors to tech companies and tech investors in the Asia Pacific.

WE UNDERSTAND FAST GROWING TECHNOLOGY BUSINESSESDIG acts for technology sector clients, advising startups, tech unicorns and leading Australian and US venture capital funds. This includes some of the largest disruptors globally and the venture capital funds investing in them. This genuine domain expertise means we can quickly comprehend the most important commercial and legal issues of fast growth tech clients and advise on global best practice trends and solutions. Most importantly, we understand disruptors well and we do not create barriers to innovation – rather, we tailor our advice to best equip our disruptive clients to pursue their fast growth ambitions.

WORLD LEADING M&A EXPERTISE DLA Piper completes more M&A transactions than any other law firm (as ranked by Mergermarket for the tenth consecutive year in 2019). We have well developed term sheets, acquisition agreements and due diligence precedents as a result, and these are tailored to a technology business for tech M&A deals. We deal with transactions of all sizes on a day-to-day basis, and importantly we lead the project management function where we are involved, regardless of the size of a transaction.

A STREAMLINED PROCESS FOR EQUITY CAPITAL MARKETS We work closely with investment banks and accountants to advice on all legal aspects of pre-IPO capital raisings and equity capital market transactions in a streamlined manner. We prepare our clients to be well positioned for an IPO process so they are free to continue to focus on their business and on their growth strategy for post-listing. Our approach adopts global best practice corporate governance and risk management frameworks, without unnecessarily disturbing a startup culture and entrepreneurship.

AT THE FOREFRONT OF VENTURE CAPITAL AND CORPORATE VENTURE CAPITALDLA Piper works closely with the most active venture capital funds in Australia and our corporate venture clients include many of the most active corporate venture investors in the US. We have leveraged this experience to work closely with ASX 100 listed clients on best practice for corporate venture strategy development and implementation.


WE ARE FINTECH SPECIALISTSWe have advised on many of the most significant fintech capital raisings, corporate investments and startup establishments in Asia Pacific, including advising peer to peer lenders, payments companies and US multi-nationals on their expansion to the Asia Pacific. Our clients include On Deck Capital Inc, Global Payments Inc, the most active venture capital funds investing in fintech in Australia and many fast growth fintech companies.

WE HAVE DETAILED BLOCKCHAIN EXPERTISEWe act for bitcoin payment platforms and traders, blockchain builders, investors in blockchain technology and financial services companies and regulators seeking to address blockchain related issues. We regularly advise on smart contracts, clearing and payment systems issues related to blockchain and how emerging technology like blockchain should be regulated.

SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE, NETWORK EFFECTS, VIRTUAL REALITY AND IOT LEADERSWe are thought leaders on emerging technology and focused on the legal issues associated with it. If our clients have a new or innovative idea or query, chances are our domestic or international lawyers will have advised on a similar matter. Where possible, we connect our clients with relevant experts, no matter where they are in the world, so you benefit in full from expertise that only DLA Piper can offer.

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Value added support

Our global footprint enables us to provide more than just legal advice. Some of the key value we can add in support of our clients is detailed below.

Our investor networkDLA Piper has more than 150 venture capital lawyers in the United States and a leading venture capital practice in Europe and Asia. We can introduce our clients to a range of international venture capital funds and corporate venture funds who are actively investing in the Asia Pacific region.

Strategic partnershipsWe can often introduce our clients to strategic partnership opportunities internationally. This includes an ability to introduce our clients to leading corporate venture funds and to leading tech multi-nationals. We regularly act for US and European listed or venture capital backed companies in the process of expanding to Australia, or looking for joint venture partners. Often we can connect our local clients with these clients when they expand to Australia. We can also introduce clients to startups, repeat entrepreneurs and established fast growth tech companies in Australia in different verticals and in data analytics, ecommerce, SaaS, bitcoin and IoT. These could be suppliers, sources of collaboration or potential investment or acquisition targets.

We can advise on opportunities and challenges that new legislation brings for tech companies and tech investorsFor example, we are experts on Australia’s innovation statement and Australian tax incentives for early stage investments. We can also advise on similar tax incentives in Singapore and the United Kingdom and on all tax matters in the United States. We are also specialists on legal issues associated with the internet of things and connected cars – we are able to leverage cutting edge expertise from our US practice, to advise governments and developers and users of this emerging technology.

Online resource ‘Accelerate’Accelerate is DLA Piper’s dedicated online resource for entrepreneurs looking to be the next big thing. Through Accelerate, DLA Piper provides entrepreneurs with easy to read materials that clearly explain key legal and business issues every founder of a company should know. Our materials help founders learn about issues commonly faced at formation; understand strategies for protecting a company’s intellectual property crown jewels; get a handle on the essentials of good corporate housekeeping and employment and equity compensation considerations; and consider key issues around fundraising and liquidity. Our global platform positions us to provide resources that support global expansion, even for companies in the earliest stages. We also offer tools that enable entrepreneurs to generate commonly used documents for free on their own time in a self-service way.

We are a law firm built for global growthWe understand how important scaling globally is to fast growth tech companies and we have built our law firm in order to service the legal needs of fast growth tech clients everywhere that they operate. In particular, for many of our fast growth technology clients, our colleagues always provide a first port of call in a new jurisdiction, to make introductions and to enable for easy navigation of a foreign compliance regime. We can also make introductions to banks, repeat entrepreneurs, recruitment firms, PR firms and possible nonexecutive directors in many jurisdictions and have done so with many clients with great success.

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Australian tech IPOs and captial raisingsDLA Piper regularly advises clients on initial public offerings and listings on the Australian Stock Exchange, as well as advising on equity capital market transactions undertaken by tech companies of all sizes.

With deep roots in the US and Australia, we are a natural choice for US companies looking to list on the ASX and raise capital in Australia, as well as US tech multinationals entering the Australian market and on their trans-Pacific strategies. Our capability to service listed clients of any size is a key differentiator in the Australian market from our competitors.

In addition to having market leading ECM and tech expertise, we can also advise on global best practice for venture capital and IPO-alternative fundraisings, we know many of the most active cornerstone investors into ASX listed technology companies and we have global capability to quickly package up a 144A offering, all further key differentiators of our IPO capabilities. Recent tech clients who we advised on ECM transactions include:

Credible Labs

Life 360

Updater

LiveHire

TubeMogul

Unilife

REVA

Bidenergy

Audinate

Buddy Platform

Boohoo.com

Ezidebit

Australian tech M&A

We have advised on some of the most significant tech M&A in the region, both on the buy side and sell side.

Our recent Australian technology M&A experience includes the following:

Catapult Group International Limited

Home Away

Groupon

Data Republic

Ezidebit

Link Group

Webjet

Discovery Communications

Seek Limited

Dimension Data

Lincor Inc.

Hewlett-Packard Australia

Credible Labs

Global Payments

No.1 Global Deal VolumeMergermarket

2010-2019

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StartupsMovus

Unlockd

Class Pass

Instaclustr

BrickX

OnDeck Capital

Open Pay

LIFX

Nabo Communities

Medipass

Flare HR

Outfit

BuildAI

Hyperanna

Harmoney

ASX listed tech Webjet

Catapult Group International Limited

Seek Limited

REVA

Updater

Buddy Platform

Life 360

Credible Labs

Top Betta

Audinate

Recent DIG clients

Global tech leaders AOL

Groupon

Dimension Data

Global Payments

EA

OnDeck Capital

Home Away

WeWork

Ezidebit

Link Group

Venture capital and corporate venture capital

DLA Piper is one of the most active advisors to venture capital and corporate venture funds internationally.

In Australia, this includes acting for many of the most active local venture capital funds or their portfolio companies and for US venture funds. We also work closely with ASX 100 companies on corporate venture and innovation strategies. Representative DLA Piper clients include:

Suncorp

Bank of Queensland

Mirvac Ventures

Westpac

Telstra Ventures

Groupon

Dell

One Ventures

Blackbird

Squarepeg

Samsung

Intel capital

Nike

Scentre Ventures

Yamaha Motor Co Ltd

Reinventure

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Adrian Tan Partner T +61 2 9286 8633 M +61 433 224 310 [email protected]

Sarah Fountain Partner T +61 3 9274 5256 M +61 414 968 444 [email protected]

Australian DIG team

Joel CoxPartnerT +61 3 9274 5181M +61 435 595 [email protected]

Sinead LynchSpecial Foreign Legal Counsel (admitted in England and Wales)T +61 2 9286 8296M +61 466 029 [email protected]

Lyndon MastersPartnerT +61 7 3246 4007M +61 423 880 062 [email protected]

Nicholas BoylePartnerT +61 2 9286 8479M +61 481 438 [email protected]

Kelly MorrisonSpecial CounselT +61 7 3246 4126M +61 435 964 [email protected]

Jonathan EllisPartnerT +61 2 9286 8197M +61 466 415 [email protected]

Sydney Level 22, No.1 Martin Place Sydney NSW 2000 T +61 2 9286 8000 F +61 2 9286 8007 [email protected]

Contact your nearest officeBrisbane480 Queen StreetBrisbane QLD 4000T +61 7 3246 4000F +61 7 3229 [email protected]

Melbourne140 William StreetMelbourne VIC 3000T +61 3 9274 5000F +61 3 9274 [email protected]

PerthLevel 21, 240 St Georges Terrace, Perth WA 6000T +61 8 6467 6000 F +61 8 6467 [email protected]

About DLA PiperDLA Piper is a global law firm located in more than 40 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, positioning us to help companies with their legal needs anywhere in the world.

We provide clients with trusted local expertise and access to seamless multijurisdictional legal capabilities across a full range of services and sectors. In Australia, we have more than 450 lawyers based in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne,

Perth and Sydney who offer full service capabilities to both Australian clients looking to expand their operations overseas, and international clients looking to enter the Australian market.

DLA Piper is a global law firm operating through various separate and distinct legal entities. Further details of these entities can be found at dlapiper.com.This publication is intended as a general overview and discussion of the subjects dealt with, and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. It is not intended to be, and should not be used as, a substitute for taking legal advice in any specific situation. DLA Piper will accept no responsibility for any actions taken or not taken on the basis of this publication. This may qualify as “Lawyer Advertising” requiring notice in some jurisdictions. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.Copyright © 2020 DLA Piper. All rights reserved. | 16 Sep 2020 | A03510-12

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