Herbert Smith Freehills advises Constantinople on its A$50 million Series A capital raise

Herbert Smith Freehills’ Venture Capital team has advised Constantinople on its A$50 million “blockbuster” Series A capital raise. The round was led by Prosus Ventures, with participation from existing investors Square Peg Capital and Airtree Ventures.

This new capital will be employed to fund the continued rapid growth and expansion of the company.

Founded by Macgregor Duncan and Dianne Challenor, Constantinople is an Australian fintech whose platform provides a more flexible and scalable solution for small to medium sized banks to simplify and streamline banking operations. Its platform encompasses both retail and business banking, supporting a full product suite across transaction banking, payments and lending, and mobile and web apps.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by partner and Co-Head of Venture Capital in Australia Elizabeth Henderson and senior associate Adam Ong, together with solicitors Darcy James and Neeharika Palachanda. The team had support from across HSF’s fintech and finance teams including partners Peter Jones, Paul Apáthy and Charlotte Henry, and senior associates George Psaltis, Tiffany Cheung and David Curley, working across the firm’s Sydney and Melbourne offices.

Elizabeth Henderson said, “We were delighted to again work with Constantinople, and its founders Di Challenor and Mac Duncan, on the company’s Series A raise, and to see the company reach such a huge milestone. Congratulations to the entire team on an incredible achievement. We thank them for trusting Herbert Smith Freehills again to guide them through this transaction and we look forward to seeing them grow from strength to strength.”

Dianne Challenor and Macgregor Duncan, Constantinople’s co-founders, said, “We’ve loved working with the HSF team again on our Series A raise. They're still simply the best in the business."

This deal is another example of Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading work in Australian venture capital raisings and fintech transactions. Other examples include:

• Infravision on A$36m Series A capital raise
• Grok Ventures on its investment in Brighte’s A$100 million Series C capital raise
• King River Capital on its investment in Lexer’s A$33.5 million Series B capital raise
• Zepto on its $25m Series A capital raise led by AirTree Ventures
• OwnHome’s A$31 million Series A capital raise led by Square Peg
• Instant Checkout on its pre-seed capital raise led by Blackbird, reportedly the largest ever Australian pre-seed