TLP Advisory, a Nigeria-based legal firm focused on Africa’s tech industry, says that it is expanding into the UK, US and Canada. Founded in 2014 as The Longe Practice, TLP in 2015 launched DIYLaw, a self-service legal tech platform. DIYLaw recently introduced a digitized, B2B dashboard aiming to simplify and automate many of the processes required by Africa-focused entrepreneurs.
TLP – which at nine employees (according to LinkedIn) is small – has facilitated $400m of investments over the past five years. Its self-service platform makes access to legal services simple and affordable through API integrations with partners such as Prospa and Access Bank. It automates over 20 activities such as company registration, employee documentation and non-disclosure agreements based on location and sector.
With its expansion outside of Africa, TLP’s plan is to act as a conduit between the continent’s technology companies and international investor markets, providing African entities with dedicated advisory around international fundraising and regulation in Lagos, London, New York and Toronto.
Africa’s tech industry is projected to be worth $180bn by 2025. During 2020 there was 44% year-on-year growth in African startup fundraising, with 359 equity raises totalling over $1.4bn.
“It is truly an exciting time in the African tech space, with some of the startups we worked with just a few years ago now on course for immense growth in and outside the continent”, said Odunoluwa Longe, co-founder and lead counsel at TLP Advisory and co-founder at DIYLaw. “We are thrilled to continue to offer a purpose-built legal services infrastructure to sustain the incredible trajectory of African startups through our on-ground expert services. We want to be the partner of choice for innovative African companies expanding overseas and international companies looking to protect and commercialise their intellectual property on the continent.”
