Orrick has advised Atomico, the venture capital firm founded by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, on its investment in the $60 million Series A financing of MessageBird. The financing, the largest ever early-stage venture capital investment into a European software company, was led by Accel and also included Y Combinator.

Founded in 2011, MessageBird is an Amsterdam-based cloud communications platform. The company plans to use the financing to grow its teams around the world, raise brand awareness on a global scale and strengthen its balance sheet.

CMS has advised London-based online real estate investment platform BrickVest on its latest fundraising round. The fundraise, which raised £7m, represents one of the largest series A fundraise in the property tech (“PropTech”) sector.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), on a pro bono basis, in relation to its innovative funding mechanism to encourage social investment from the private sector.

Shoosmiths has advised long-standing client Octopus Ventures on its investment into Fluidly, a FinTech startup set to transform cashflow management for SMEs.

Octopus Ventures led the seed round, which raised £2m for the company. The London-based company - which was one of the 20 winners at Nesta's Challenge Prize on Open Banking earlier this year - also drew investment from Anthemis; New York-based Nyca; and Hank Vigil, an angel investor.

Global law firm K&L Gates has advised Tokyo Century Corporation (Tokyo Century) on its agreement to acquire a 20% stake in U.S.-based aircraft-leasing company Aviation Capital Group, a wholly owned affiliate of U.S.-based Pacific Life Insurance Company. The deal is expected to close by year-end.

Hamburg-based Evotec AG has invested EUR 15 million in research Company Exscientia Ltd., making Evotec the first strategic shareholder in the British firm. Exscientia and Evotec have cooperated since early 2016 in the development of new immuno-oncological therapies. Taking this minority stake expands and deepens the strategic partnership. This is the first project to be implemented by Evotec after receiving support from the European Investment Bank. In September 2017, the company was granted a loan of EUR 75 Million.

Global law firm Dentons has advised Thomas Cook Group plc on the acquisition of a 42 percent stake in tour operator Aldiana from Swiss investment company LM Investments. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval in Germany and Austria. The deal is part of a strategic partnership between Thomas Cook and LMYE Investments, which will allow both companies to further invest into vacation clubs and hotel complexes.

Paul, Weiss represented KKR in the Series C financing of Shenzhen Suishou Technology Co. (Suishou), a leading personal finance management platform in China. KKR has signed definitive agreements under which it will invest in Suishou to support Suishou’s expansion within China, joining Suishou’s existing group of world-class investors, including Sequoia Capital, Fosun Group and Source Code Capital. KKR will make this round of financing from its Asian Fund III.

The Paul, Weiss team included corporate partners Judie Ng Shortell, Jack Lange and Tong Yu.

Shoosmiths has advised NVM Private Equity (NVM) on its investment into Volo Commerce, a provider of multi-channel e-commerce technology to support online merchants and brands selling through market places such as Amazon and eBay.

NVM led the latest investment round into the UK-based company, which raised £6.2m. The company - which already has an office in New York - will use the cash to expand into the US and other international sales channels.

Taylor Wessing has advised its new client Onfido - one of the UK’s leading identity verification providers - on its $30m series C round financing led by Crane Ventures with support from Microsoft Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Idinvest and Wellington Partners and other investors.