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Claire Thompson

Co-Head of Venture Capital (Australia)
Melbourne Australia

Claire is Co-Head of our Australian VC practice and a tech M&A specialist.

Claire is the Co-head of Venture Capital (Australia) and an experienced M&A lawyer. 
 
Claire specialises in venture capital and technology sector transactions, with a focus on capital raising and mergers and acquisitions. Claire has particular experience in:
 
  • acting for both Founders and investors in early-stage funding rounds, from pre-seed to Series C and beyond;
  • private M&A transactions, including acquisitions for growth, platform acquisitions and competitive sale processes; 
  • complex M&A transactions, including carve-out deals; and
  • public M&A transactions, including takeover bids and schemes of arrangement.

Background

Claire was a winner of the M&A category in the 2016 Lawyers' Weekly "30 under 30".

Claire has a double degree Bachelor of Laws (honours) / Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne. 

Claire is admitted to practice in New South Wales and Victoria.

Experience & expertise

Selected matters

  • Delegate Connect (now Joyn) on its Series Seed, led by AirTree
  • Dovetail Research on its Series Seed, led by Felicis Ventures and Series A, led by Accel
  • SafetyCulture on its Series C2, led by Insight
  • Finder on its Series A, led by Future Now Capital
  • NAB Ventures on various investments, including leading Spriggy’s Series B, Athena Home Loans, Edstart, Active Pipe, BrickX, Basiq, Medipass and Data Republic
  • Optal Limited on its acquisition by WEX Inc, jointly with eNett
  • National Australia Bank on its acquisition of Citi’s Australian consumer business