Tom is a partner in Fieldfisher's Corporate Group and Co-Head of the firm's international Emerging Companies and Venture Capital group. He is a tech-focused VC and M&A lawyer, described by clients in 2022 as "exceptionally sharp" and "extremely diligent".
Tom was ranked in Legal Week's 2019 "40 under 40: The Rising Stars in Private Equity" and described in Legal500 in 2023 as "a high quality, commercially-minded and market savvy lawyer".
He is known for the volume of company-side mandates he works on in the UK market, working closely with founders and technology companies as they finance and scale their businesses. Tom also works with a growing number of leading venture capital funds, both in the UK, US and EU, on their equity investments into UK emerging companies.
Tom also regularly acts for corporate acquirers on acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic investments, in addition to advising his large portfolio of growth company clients on bolt-on acquisitions and eventually exits, to both trade acquirers and private equity houses.
Tom also regularly advises international growth companies on their launch in the UK and European markets, having advised Getir on its establishment of operations in the UK, including multiple other tech startups from Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and other European jurisdictions on establishing their businesses in the UK.
Recent Experience: Venture Capital
- Advising polymer/textile recycling business Worn Again on its £27.6m Series C equity financing
- Advising UK fintech Carmoola on its £27m seed investment round led by InMotion Ventures, VentureFriends and US-based Clocktower Ventures, and subsequently advising the company on its £103.5m Series A round led by US venture fund QED Investors
- Advising leading EIS venture capital fund Fuel Ventures as lead equity investor in the £49m seed funding of ecommerce business Heroes Technology
- Advising Fuel Ventures on a large number of other portfolio investments to date into innovative UK growth companies, including Odore, Feast It, Creoate, Market Materials, Eilla AI, Wollitt, Cutbox, Runway, Outmin and Cult Mia
- Advising autonomous drone logistics business Dronamics on its $40m pre-Series A financing
- Advising Silicon Valley 'deeptech' venture capital fund Playground Global on the £13 million Series A funding of Phasecraft, a UK quantum software company and market leader in quantum intellectual property
- Advising Onbuy.com, the UK's fasting growing ecommerce platform, on its £35m Series A+ financing
- Advising leading EIS venture capital fund Guinness Assets Management on several equity investments into UK growth companies to date, including the Series A financings of Tailify and Distbtd and the refinancing of Push Technology
- Advising VR fitness developer FitXR on its $7.5m Series A investment led by Hiro Capital, with participation from BoostVC, Maveron and TenOneTen Ventures
- Advising PropTech company Oh Goodlord Limited on its £27m Series C investment led by Highland Europe, Finch Capital and Latitude with £12m venture debt facility from Columbia Lake Partners
- Advising UK fintech Codat on its $10m Series A round led by Index Ventures and advising the business on its subsequent strategic equity investment from American Express and PayPal
- Advising virtual-reality immersive retail Software-as-a-service platform Emperia on its $10m Series A funding led by Base10 Partners, with participants including Daphni VC, Sony Innovation Fund and Concept VC
- Advising UK SEIS investment fund Creator Fund on a volume of early stage financings of university spin-outs including
Recent Experience: M&A
- Advising Together Group Holdings plc on multiple cross-border acquisitions of digital agencies including PurplePR, King & Partners, Construct London, Noe & Associates, Seven Dials, The Future Laboratory Group and North Six
- Advising Pistachio Holdings (part of East Africa-based Sumaria Group) on its acquisition of a controlling stake in the Creams Café chain of UK ice cream parlours
- Advising Bidco on the management-buyout of home improvement finance and funding business Improveasy and subsequently advising Improveasy on multiple bolt-on acquisitions
- Advising selling shareholders of VC-backed mens health business Honest Health on the exit and sale and purchase of the company by NYSE-listed Hims & Hers, Inc.
- Advising IT service management company Helecloud and its selling shareholders including BGF on the sale of the entire issued share capital of the VC-backed company to Switzerland-headquartered market peer, SoftwareONE
- Advising selling shareholders on the exit of VC-backed ecommerce data analytics business E-Fundamentals on the sale of the company to US purchaser CommerceIQ;
- Advising the selling shareholders of established in-building wireless provider Opencell to US-infrastructure fund Digital Colony, a global investment firm focused on investing in the mobile and internet infrastructure landscape worldwide
- Advising a leading global management consultancy on multiple acquisitions of UK digital agencies / business transformation consultancies
What others say…
Tom Ward’s blend of deep legal knowledge, market insight, and outstanding communication skills sets him apart from competitors. We have particularly valued his proactive approach and commercial acumen.
Tom Ward – attention to detail, ability to collaborate effectively within own firm and external business community and accessibility are all tremendous.
Great leadership from Tom Ward, who is always on call to get his hands dirty. I care about them doing a good job. Which they do, at a rapid pace, and for very reasonable rates.
