Luke Vaz is an associate in the Technology & IP Transactions Practice Group in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP. Luke supports clients on a variety of complex corporate and commercial transactions and advisory matters in which intellectual property, technology and data play a major role.
Prior to joining Kirkland, Luke worked as an associate in the Data Technology Transactions team in the London office of Latham & Watkins LLP.
Experience
Representative Matters
Prior to joining Kirkland, Luke worked on the following matters:
Corporate/Private Equity
TPG’s global impact investing platform, The Rise Fund, in its investment in Airtel Africa’s mobile money business, at a US$2.65 billion valuation
Silver Lake on co-leading a group which invested US$650 million into Swedish banking and payments start-up Klarna, making it the highest-valued private fintech in Europe, at a US$10.65 billion valuation
L Catterton Europe, a leading global consumer-focused private equity firm, in its acquisition of a significant minority shareholding in Little Moons, a premium dessert brand in the UK
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan on leading a £210 million funding round of Lendable, a technology platform connecting global institutional investors with borrowers using AI and automation. The new fundraising round values Lendable at £3.5 billion
Index Ventures on commercial contracts, intellectual property and EU and UK data privacy matters related to (1) its co-leading of a US$100 million Series B funding round for Beauty Pie, the first luxury beauty buyers' club for high-end beauty and wellness products; and (2) its co-leading on a seed round of Workbounce, a search, collaboration, and analytics platform for B2B sales executives to establish successful customer relationships
IP/IT
Advising Authentic Brands Group (ABG), a global brand owner, development, and entertainment company, in its strategic partnership with David Beckham to co-own and manage Beckham’s global brand
Facebook in its acquisition by Oculus VR, a subsidiary of Facebook, of Beat Games, a Czech-based game studio, and its acquisition of Papers with Code, a provider of an artificial intelligence research platform designed to track Artificial Intelligence (AI) research papers
Advising Endeavor on intellectual property, commercial contracts, and tech transfers matters related to its US$1.2 billion acquisition of OpenBet, a leading content, platform, and service provider to the sports betting industry
Advising an online fashion marketplace on copyright, trademark and intellectual property issues
Data Protection
A publicly listed China-headquartered technology and internet group on global data privacy compliance for cross-border products, including products across the gaming and social media space
Headspace, a global leader in mindfulness and meditation, on EU and UK data privacy matters related to its merger with Ginger, a leader in on-demand mental healthcare
A leading global accountancy and consultancy firm in its global privacy impact assessment (PIA) process to minimize privacy and security risks, and achieve compliance with global information laws for new systems and tools
Commercial Contracts
A UK-headquartered travel company in its commercial contracts in the reorganization of its airline tour operators
