Nigerian law firm TLP Advisory has announced its expansion into the UK, US and Canada to enable a smoother capital flow between technological companies in Africa.
The law firm’s expansion will position it as a link between Africa’s technology companies and investor markets, as well as provide them with expert advisory on the subject of international fundraising and regulations.
“We are thrilled to continue to offer a purpose-built legal services infrastructure to sustain the incredible trajectory of African start-ups through our on-ground expert services. We want to be the partner of choice for innovative African companies expanding overseas and international companies looking to protect and commercialise their intellectual property on the continent,” Odunoluwa Longe, Co-founder and Lead Counsel at TLP Advisory, said.
Africa’s tech industry is projected to be worth $180 billion by 2025. During 2020 there was 44 percent yearly growth in African startup fundraising, with 359 equity raises totalling over $1.4 billion, according to TLP Advisory.
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As the first startup and venture law firm in Nigeria, TLP Advisory has seen 300 percent annual growth and supports angel investors, VC funds, corporates and investment banks across additional markets such as South Africa, Ghana and Kenya, and now the UK, US and Canada.
To support the growing and varying needs of its clients, TLP Advisory launched DIYLaw, its self-service legal tech platform, in 2015.
DIYLaw recently launched a digitized, business to business (B2B) dashboard which simplifies the process for Africa-focused entrepreneurs to set up and operate smoothly.
They partnered with prospa and access bank to provide services like Bulk functionality and smart application programming interfaces (API) integration to make access to legal services simple and affordable.
“It is truly an exciting time in the African tech space, with some of the start-ups we worked with just a few years ago now on course for immense growth in and outside the continent,” Longe said.
DIYLaw is said to automate over 20 activities such as company registration, employee documentation and non-disclosure agreements based on location and sector, reducing the legal administrative burden for growing start-ups.
The company has evolved alongside the continent’s accelerating tech ecosystem and has also facilitated $400 million of investments over the past five years.
“We are expanding and scaling but retain our personalised and tailored approach to giving clients the best guidance in often difficult regulatory environments. This takes into account how innovation moves faster than regulation, and by creating a robust services sector we can ensure that clients operate without being in breach of existing regulations and are able to comply during complex cross-border operations,” Funke Odeleye, Corporate-Commercial Lead at TLP said.
