Herbert Smith Freehills’ venture capital team has advised Constantinople Holdings Pty Ltd (Constantinople) on its “mega” A$32 million Series Seed capital raise backed by prominent Australian venture capital firms, Square Peg and AirTree Ventures as well as strategic investor, Great Southern Bank.
Experienced banking executives, Dianne Challenor and Macgregor Duncan came together to create Constantinople in 2022. Constantinople is an Australian technology company that is developing a “bank in a box” solution that provides all the operational software needed to run a bank.
The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by partner and Co-Head of Venture Capital Elizabeth Henderson and solicitor Adam Ong, together with solicitors Nick Venn, Katherine Duong and Esther Adeyinka, and with support from partner Clayton James.
Elizabeth Henderson said, “We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Di and Mac and the team at Constantinople to help them navigate the company’s seed capital raise and technology and cornerstone customer partnerships. This significant sized first raise speaks to the calibre of the Constantinople’s co-founders and their vision for the future of Australian banking services. We look forward to seeing the business grow.”
Dianne Challenor, Constantinople co-founder, said, “We loved working with Elizabeth, Adam, and the HSF team. They’re simply the best in the business.”
This deal is another example of Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading work in Australian venture capital raisings. Other recent examples include:
- Linktree’s US$110 million capital raise in 2022 at a valuation of US$1.3 billion
- Mr Yum’s A$89 million Series A capital Raise
- Who Gives a Crap’s A$41.5 million Series A capital raise and secondary sale
- SafetyCulture’s A$90 million Series C2 capital raise
- Dovetail’s A$52 million Series A capital raise
- Culture Amp’s A$120 million Series E capital raise and A$135 million Series F capital raise and secondary sale
