He has advised technology companies and investors on major transactions
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP has welcomed technology and corporate law expert Arik Broadbent as a counsel working from Vancouver.
He joins the firm’s corporate and commercial group as a specialist in transactional matters. Before jumping to Blakes, he was the venture technology lead at Dentons, where he was a partner.
Broadbent has tackled issues involving corporate structuring, equity plans, intellectual property, licensing, commercial agreements, debt and equity financings, and mergers and acquisitions.
He worked with an investor consortium on a US$50 million Series C equity financing for a North American company concentrating on e-commerce last-mile logistics. He also advised an interactive entertainment company as it acquired a Nova Scotia-based video game developer.
Broadbent has advised technology companies and investors on major transactions across different growth stages. He has represented local companies expanding internationally and global investors looking to partner with or acquire Canadian businesses, Blakes said.
He has assisted angel investors with venture investments as well as growth companies in the private biotech, blockchain, virtual reality, e-commerce, and telecommunications sectors with debt and equity financings. He guided an Ottawa-based supply chain software provider on its US$60 million acquisition of a startup in Toronto, a medical device company as it acquired a private entity, and a media company on corporate development activities.
Broadbent was an associate at Farris LLP from October 2014 to September 2019 before switching to Dentons, where he started as a senior associate. He seconded at TELUS as a general counsel from September 2016 to August 2017, per LinkedIn.
Vancouver office managing partner Jeffrey Merrick praised Broadbent’s significant tech sector knowledge and his successful handling of high-profile deals. Broadbent has also commented on AI’s place in M&A.
Before starting his legal career, Broadbent worked at AbeBooks, an early ecommerce marketplace focused on books, and was co-owner of OPW Inc., a professional photography, equipment, and wholesale framing business. He was admitted to the British Columbia bar in 2013.
