Dylan Doran Kennett
Dylan is a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills where he co-leads its Venture and Growth Capital practice, and co-heads its Sports group.
Dylan has a wealth of experience in venture and growth equity transactions, as well as private equity, domestic and cross-border M&A. He has taken a number of high-growth companies ‘global’ advising on ‘land and expand’ strategy – through new jurisdictions, business lines or acquisitive entries into new markets.
Dylan acts on both sides of the investment dialogue, advising both company-side and investor-side (whether institutional or strategic), as well as joint ventures and other collaborative transactions. He predominantly covers the technology (and its intersection with many industries), life sciences, media and sport sectors.
He is a ranked lawyer in the Legal 500 (Venture Capital) and named a Corporate Rising Star at the 2023 LMG Life Sciences Awards.
Background
Dylan recently completed an MBA at the University of Cambridge. He qualified in England and Wales in 2014 and joined Herbert Smith Freehills in 2023 from a leading international law firm where he was a senior associate and built his own practice in the venture capital and growth equity space.
- College of Law, Moorgate, LPC, 2012
- University College London, Bachelor of Laws (Honours) (LLB), 2011
- McGill University, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) (B.A), 2006
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- Eagle Football on its establishment, acquisition of John Textor's football club interests in Crystal Palace, Molenbeek and Botafogo, and its ultimate acquisition of a controlling stake in Olympique Lyonnais*
- John Textor on his investment into Crystal Palace Football Club*
- WeWork advising on its corporate governance in the U.K, their international expansion into numerous jurisdictions and the creation of its Creator Awards in the UK, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Germany. He also advised them on their acquisition of LT Build Limited, a general contractor in the UK*
- Pangea Botanica and Kanna Health on all aspects of their business needs, including their seed rounds*
- Pfizer Ventures, on a number of Series A and B rounds in UK life sciences companies, including, Nucleome, Grey Wolf, Storm Therapeutics, and spin-out Zura Bio*
- Seedrs Limited, the leading equity crowdfunding platform, on their corporate and fund advisory work, including advising on their current and existing portfolio investments on behalf of the ‘crowd’*
- Vita Mojo on their £10m Series A investment from a consortium of investors, led by Investec, as well as its $30m Series B investment from Battery Ventures*
- Advising Carbon13, a startup incubator focusing on addressing the climate emergency on all aspects of its formation and deployment of capital across multiple cohorts. He also advised C13 portfolio companies on a range of matters*
- Lloyd’s of London on the formation and all legal documentation in relation to its Lloyd's Lab accelerator program*
- Aviva Ventures on the formation and all legal documentation in relation to Aviva Ventures foundation. He also advised Aviva Ventures on a number of downstream investments*
- Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Motors Company, as lead investor, on its EUR100 million, Series A investment in Arrival SARL. Arrival is a Luxembourg- based company focussing on creating and designing eletric vehicles*
- Daimler AG on their GBP10 million investment in Carwow’s GBP25 million Series D investment round, alongside Balderton Capital, Accel and Vitruvian Partners*
- 10X Future Technolgies on its GBP47 million Series B investment round from investors including Westpac, Nationwide, Oliver Wyman and Ping An*
- Jaja Finance Limited on their GBP600 million acquisition of the Bank of Ireland's credit card portfolio, as well as raising GBP20 million in fresh funding from KKR and Centerbridge. The transaction also involved a crowd-funding structuring, as part of the overall deal. Project completion June 2019
- Updata Partners on a number of investments in the UK, including their Series A and follow on investment round in Adthena Limited, an UK-based adtech company and Series A investment in Shufti Pro Limited*
- Gett (formerly Gett Taxi) on its USD1.2 billion, Series D funding round in which Volkswagen Group invested USD300 million*
* Experience prior to joining Herbert Smith Freehills
Sectors
