William Alms

As an associate in our international Corporate group in London, I have a particular focus on Venture Capital and private M&A deals.

I have a particular interest and focus on venture capital transactions and private M&A deals where I regularly act on both company/investor and buy/sell sides of deals. I also advise on a diverse range of corporate work including joint ventures, corporate restructures and private equity and general corporate advisory work.

Working on early-stage investments, whether we're advising investors or founders, involves a close working relationship with individuals who have a tangible interest and ambition in the target business. Building relationships and providing practical, commercially driven advice at such a critical stage in their life cycle is very rewarding and hopefully leads to longer term relationships as we service all stages of their life-cycle, from incorporation and taking on investment for the first time, on to alphabet rounds and all the way through to an exit/IPO.

Being involved with early-stage and high-growth companies, combined with Bird & Bird's tech focus, means I consistently work with exciting disruptive businesses flying in the face of the traditional industries through innovative developments in technology. This allows me to be involved in a wide range of sectors including: media, entertainment and sports; aviation; energy and utilities; aviation & aerospace; and technology & communications.

• Acted on a corporation's disposal of a spot and foreign currency exchange business, for around £10 million, to Currencies Direct Ltd. a business owned by Pollen Street Capital.
• Acted for Faculty Science, London based AI start-up, on its £8 million series 3 investment round who's technology has been used by the Home Office to comb through terrorist videos. Among the investors was GMG Ventures, the Guardian's venture capital business.
• Acted for the sellers of JGAW Holdings Limited on the sale of the JGAW group to 10star. The group comprised JASIS, a B2B supplier of tennis pricing for bookmakers offering in-play pricing and automated liability management for singles matches, and JAbet, an online sportsbook marketplace.