Paul Kariyawasam

PAUL KARIYAWASAM counsels clients on intellectual property, technology, cybersecurity, and data privacy aspects of corporate transactions. His practice focuses on carve-out transactions, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and private equity, and venture capital investments. Additionally, Paul advises companies at all growth stages on licensing, software, and other intellectual property development matters, including IP transfer protocols and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) licensing agreements.

Prior to focusing on technology and IP transactions, Paul worked as a corporate generalist to counsel private equity investors, acquisition targets and portfolio companies on complex transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, debt and equity restructurings, recapitalizations, minority investments, investment exists, and executive compensation and equity incentive arrangements. Paul advised companies from a wide variety of industries, including retail, consumer products, professional services, logistics, transportation, and technology.

Prior to his legal career, Paul worked as an asset manager and investment counsellor for high-net-worth private clients, advising on circumstance and goal-appropriate investment strategies, allocations, and decisions.

Technology, Artificial Intelligence, & Commercial Transactions

• Amazon in the preparation and negotiation of multiple agreements with commercial partners for Alexa+, Amazon’s next-generation AI assistant. 
• Omniva, a provider of AI-focused data center infrastructure, in connection with the procurement of hardware and services for the design and construction of data centers.
• Microsoft in connection with acquisition and licensing matters relating to data for artificial intelligence model training.
• Peak6 Investments on data use, licensing, and emerging artificial intelligence issues in connection with an AI startup incubator. 
• Kaiizen in connection with licensing agreements and strategic partnerships with commercial retailers and property developers.
• Investor Technology Group in connection with customer relationship arrangements with JPMorgan Chase & Co. 
• Sage AI Labs in its acqui-hire transaction involving Styl, Inc. personnel and software assets.
• Canadian Solar Inc. on intellectual property licensing and strategic intellectual property deployment matters. 
• A global pharmaceutical company in connection with the structuring and negotiation of commercial and strategic partnership arrangements relating to an AI-enabled drug discovery platform.

Mergers & Acquisitions/Private Equity

• GE Healthcare in its US$2.3 billion acquisition of Intelerad Medical Systems. 
• Sentry Insurance in its US$1.1 billion acquisition of The General Automobile Insurance Company.
• Qualcomm in its acquisition of Arduino.
• Barclays Bank Delaware in its acquisition of assets of Luxury Card, LLC, including the Black Card and related credit card loyalty programs. 
• Ridgeview Partners in its inaugural platform investment in PayRange and subsequent strategic add-on acquisitions, including TurnsApp and KioSoft.
• ZMC Management, L.L.C. in its acquisition of Dolly Parton-branded dinner entertainment operating entities. 
• Shenzhen Longsys Electronics Co., Ltd. in its acquisition of an 81% interest in SMART Modular Technologies do Brasil.
• Hoffman-La Roche Inc. in the sale of production facilities and related infrastructure to Lonza Group AG. 
• Brace Pharma Capital, LLC in the sale of pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment.

Digital Assets, Blockchain, & Decentralized Technologies

• Grove Foundation in connection with token launch, tokenomics, and related earning structure arrangements. 
• Immutable X Pty Ltd, a blockchain gaming platform, in connection with commercial agreements. 
• Nous Research in connection with licensing, data commercialization, and decentralized AI training platform matters involving cryptographic token structures. 
  
  

• Counselled client on successful grant of asylum in the United States.