UK law firm Ashfords advises Vamstar on its $9.5m Series A funding round

UK law firm Ashfords has advised global digital health company Vamstar on its $9.5m Series A funding round.

The funding will help Vamstar scale, with new investment partners including Alpha Intelligence Capital who led the funding with participation from Dutch Founders Fund, alongside existing investors btov Partners, Antler, and Begin Capital.

Vamstar is a leading AI-based global sourcing and procurement platform for medical goods and pharmaceuticals. Founded in 2019, the business brings together expertise in sourcing, procurement, artificial intelligence, as well as software engineering and data science, with the aim of transforming the way healthcare organisations discover and connect with suppliers.

Praful Mehta, CEO, Vamstar commented: “Securing this investment has been a critical step in scaling the business so that we can ultimately change healthcare commerce for a new era.

Having the right legal partner on board helped us achieve a good outcome quickly and efficiently. Ashfords' experience of working on other investment rounds, their understanding of our business and familiarity with our existing investment documentation and share capital table meant we could deliver to a challenging timetable. Importantly, their ability to work closely with us and give us clear advice on what they considered was the best way forward, meant we were on the front foot at all times”.

The cross-office Ashfords team advising Vamstar was led by Corporate partner and Healthcare & Life Sciences sector and Bristol office head Jocelyn Ormond with Corporate Associate Okachi Kejeh, Corporate Solicitor Charles Davies, Commercial Senior Associate Brett Lambe and Head of Tax Angus Bauer.

Jocelyn Ormond commented: “Ashfords continues to develop its reputation in the digital health space, building on the strong foundations provided by our venture capital practice and tech sector strengths. It's exciting to work with companies like Vamstar on their Series A investment rounds and beyond, supporting them as they grow”.

Ashfords was recognised by Experian MarketIQ as one of 2021's most active legal advisers in the South West by volume and in the top 20 UK wide – a position it has maintained into 2022. Vamstar’s investment round is one of a large number of investments on which the firm has advised over the last year including acting on a $160m Series C investment round led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management for payment platform technology provider Form 3, advising on BGF’s investment in online education platform BBC Maestro and supporting Iksuda Therapeutics on its $47 million Series A financing round led by Korean investors Mirae Asset and Celltrion.

The team at Ashfords regularly work with founders and innovative companies looking to scale as well venture capital and other investors looking to back them. That support covers the full range of legal requirements from securing funding via multiple rounds and protecting valuable innovations, through to structuring third party collaborations to help scale and advising on a potential sale or other exit. The firm also continues to invest in its expertise in this area, most recently adding ex-energy infrastructure fund GC Kim Hawkins and ex-Notion Capital GC Jon Groves to the Corporate team.

To find out more about our role in this multimillion pound cross-border investment, read our case study here.