Australian start-up says it is "very proud" that the legal giant is its trusted adviser and legal partner
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has helped an Australian start-up that makes paper from stone with its first capital raise.
The global firm’s private equity and venture capital team advised Karst, which raised the round from Cyan and Collis Ta’eed, known as the co-founders of creative platform Envato. The Ta’eeds made the investment via a charitable trust, which owns the stake and will provide the returns of the investment to an environment-focused charity.
Peter Dunne, partner and head of venture capital in Australia, headed the HSF team, which also included consultant Elizabeth Henderson.
“Paper is one of the earliest human innovations and stone is one of the earliest human tools. Karst is bringing these together to deliver innovation in manufacturing and sustainable products,” Henderson said.
Jon Tse, co-founder of Karst, explained why it is important that his start-up has a partnership with HSF.
“We are very proud to have Herbert Smith Freehills as our trusted advisors and legal partners in our long journey ahead. We were hotdesking at WeWork three years ago when we launched, and now we have scaled to have warehouse facilities in Sydney, LA and Amsterdam, with our products used by organisations like Facebook, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Dermalogica, and TED,” he said. “As a founder, I know how crucial it is to leverage an experienced partner to help us navigate strategic and legal challenges going forward. Peter Dunne and the HSF team have blown me away and we look forward to building our company with them by our side."
HSF has a long history of advising on significant venture capital transactions in Australia and beyond, including advising Deputy Group on its $111m Series B, Culture Amp on its US$54m Series D, and Nura on its $15m Series A.
