Founded by Andrew Wailes, PlaySafe ID is currently in talks with several major gaming platforms and is aiming to announce its first partnerships later this year.
Our team was led by partner Ed Lane with support from associate Matthew Shannon.
On working with Harbottle & Lewis, founder Andrew Wailes commented: “I cannot express how happy I am with the work that Harbottle & Lewis undertook for us. The expertise and guidance in particular from Ed Lane and Matthew Shannon was critical in securing our funding in the right way, to protect both us and our investors. The team have been prompt, and provided assistance whenever we needed it. I would gladly recommend them.”
Ed Lane added: “We are delighted to have supported Andrew and his team on this initial fundraise, and we look forward to seeing PlaySafe ID go from strength to strength as it scales.”
He has a particular interest and expertise in the creative industries, including film and TV, video games and music, and in the broader media, entertainment and technology sectors.
His practice spans mergers and acquisitions, fundraises from pre-seed to series A and beyond, startups, growth equity investments, public takeovers, joint ventures, management incentive arrangements, including EMI options, and SEIS/EIS investments. He is actively involved as a speaker and mentor for a number of different industry accelerators and trade bodies, including Indielab, BAFTA and UKIE.
Ed trained and qualified at Linklaters, where he spent five and a half years in the private equity M&A team acting for a variety of private equity houses and businesses on leveraged and non-leveraged buy-outs, growth equity investments, exits, management incentive arrangements and bolt-on acquisitions.
Ed is ranked as a key lawyer in The Legal 500 UK guide, and is noted for his “sector expertise”, “encyclopaedic memory” and his willingness to “go the extra mile to get the best deal.”
Matthew advises clients on a range of corporate and commercial matters, with a particular interest in technology and life science businesses. His experience includes advising on both debt and equity fundraising, as well as shareholder arrangements, mergers and acquisitions and corporate reorganisations.
Before qualifying as a solicitor, Matthew’s background was in the life sciences and he has a PhD in Molecular Genetics.