Lawyers at international legal firm Osborne Clarke’s Bristol office have advised lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman’s new venture capital firm on the £50m fundraising of its first start-up seed fund.
Brent Capital’s Firstminute fund will back early-stage European tech entrepreneurs, particularly in the ‘deep tech’ fields of robotics, artificial intelligence and the internet of things. 
It is backed by a group of 23 tech company founders and institutional investors including international investment firm Atomico, which was founded by Skype co-creator Niklas Zennström. The fund will be run by Mr Hoberman, pictured, and former Goldman Sachs analyst Spencer Crawley.
Firstminute’s ability to call on a wide range of successful entrepreneurs set it apart from other early stage funds, said Mr Hoberman.
Mr Hoberman, who founded lastminute.com with Martha Lane Fox in 1998, is a longstanding client of Osborne Clarke.
The firm advised London-based Brent Capital throughout the fundraising process including on the structure of the fund, marketing, legal documents, investor negotiations and regulatory and tax issues.
The firm also worked with Mr Hoberman on the launch of PROfounders Capital and Founders Factory, a private network of tech entrepreneurs. 
The Osborne Clarke team on the Brent Capital deal was led by Bristol-based partner Helen Parsonage, pictured, assisted by associate Rachael Clayden.
Osborne Clarke has a strong presence in the venture capital industry with practitioners based in its offices in Bristol, Reading and London as well as a presence in Silicon Valley in the US.
Over the past 18 months the firm has helped launch numerous start-up funds including PROfounders Capital II, Notion Capital III, IFM Fintech Opportunities and the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund.
