The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/1240413
12 www.canadianlawyermag.com FEATURES CROSS EXAMINED for this practice in terms of getting the reps doing buy-side work. And understanding what buyers are looking for really helped for- mulate what we want to do," he says. But it was the 2008 financial crisis that catalyzed the group's formation. The economic downturn changed the legal mar- ket and Bayne and his colleagues made the decision to begin playing the long game — advising companies in the early stages and betting on and assisting in their growth and future success. "It helps us provide a better advisory pack- age for these companies at the early stage [and] ensure that they're always ready for a transaction, always ready to do a financing or ready for a sale, whenever that could come," he says. The emerging and high-growth-com- panies practice group was officially born in 2010. Three years later came the 2013 Hootsuite financing, which represented a coming of age for the group, says Bayne. The social media management platform service raised US$165 million. This was the largest venturing financing in Canadian history, up until 2019, when Clio and Verifan surpassed it with their respective capital raisings. The year 2013 was the "tipping point" for the practice group, says Bayne, as he and his team assisted in the incorporations of other key companies with bright futures: Wealthsimple, Sensibill and Rubikloud. "That was a really seminal point in the practice in terms of validating the approach we took," Bayne says. worked for Geist as a research assistant and helped him write a chapter in his first text- book on technology law. From there, Bayne summered at Osler, joined as an articling student and has remained there ever since. His practice began in intellectual property law doing trademark disputes, patent and copyright. He was called to the bar in 2002, the first "double cohort" year, when the law society changed the bar admissions process and began making two annual calls. "I thought I was going to be an IP law- yer and then quickly switched what I was doing over time, essentially once I moved to Toronto," he says. Bayne's practice shifted to "the corporate side" and he began building the base of the emerging and high-growth-companies prac- tice, advising startups and other companies on corporate organization, strategic matters, venture finance and M&A. In what he said was formative to his devel- opment in the early years, Bayne worked on the buy side for several high-profile transac- tions, including the 2008 IBM acquisition of Cognos, the Ottawa-based business intel- ligence and performance management com- pany — IBM's largest ever acquisition at that point. He was also involved on several Google transactions, as the company expanded into Canada. The experience provided a game plan for his future practice group, as it illuminated the factors and characteristics the tech giants were looking for in up-and-comers. "That really provided a bedrock, ultimately, "The difference with the practice that we built here at Osler is that it's the only West Coast, Silicon Valley practice that's built in an essentially Wall Street-type firm." In 2019, Osler advised on $3.7 billion in venture capital financings, a 90-per- cent increase from the firm's total deal value in 2018, according to a firm announcement. Highlights included: $515 million Verafin venture funding, the largest venture funding deal in Canadian history US$10 million EBT Medical Inc. secured a Series A investment, co-led by SV Health Investors and Genesys Capital $6 million FlexPay announced the close of its late seed round led by Impression Ventures $5.6 million Winterlight Labs Inc. closed a round of Series A financing led by Hikma Ventures 2019 A BANNER YEAR