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Pallavi Kanakagiri

Partner

Pallavi is a seasoned corporate lawyer and a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales with over 16 years of experience advising domestic and international clients on private equity, venture capital, mergers & acquisitions, and general corporate and commercial matters. She has extensive experience across all stages of investment—from seed to late-stage funding—and has represented both investors and investee companies in sectors including fintech, pharmaceuticals, SaaS, logistics, manufacturing, non-banking finance, and e-commerce.

Her expertise spans complex transaction structuring, including cross-border investments, externalisations, compliance with foreign direct investment regulations. Pallavi regularly advises on mergers and business acquisitions through share purchases, asset transfers, and business transfers.

In her broader corporate advisory role, Pallavi counsels clients on a wide range of commercial contracts—distribution, IP licensing, warehousing, joint ventures, and more—delivering tailored risk assessments and structuring recommendations that align with business objectives. Her practical, solution-oriented approach has made her a trusted advisor for navigating legal challenges in fast-evolving regulatory and business environments.

Select Professional Experience

  • Advised StackGen Inc. in relation to the acquisition of OpsVerse.
  • Advised Avaana Capital on its investment in Wastelink, a leading business-to-business food upcycling startup.
  • Advised Wipro, one of the leading information technology services providers in its sale of hosted data centre services to Ensono, a US based multi-million-dollar enterprise and assisting with post-acquisition transition by way of drafting new employment contracts, termination letters, final settlement letters, transition support agreement, inter-company agreement for transfer pricing etc.
  • Advised Darwinbox, a leading provider of cloud-based Human Resources Management Software, in their acquisition of companies by way of share purchase and asset purchase and in their day to day to operation including negotiation of long-term service agreements, key employee contracts, settlement agreements, strategic partnership agreements, software licensing agreements, IP assignment agreements etc.
  • Advised Livspace, one of the leading home interior platforms in India, in its late stage multi-million dollar fundraise from TPG, Goldman Sacks and Ingka Investments, the VC arm of Ikea.
  • Advised Wipro, one of the leading Information Technology Services providers in its sale of EcoEnergy business to US based multi-conglomerate UTC one of the leading providers of high-technology products and services to the global aerospace and building systems industries.
  • Advised Lockstep Systems, a company providing a platform for building fintech applications that work with their customers’ accounting systems in its acquisition by the Sage Group, a company engaged in accounting, financial, human resources and payroll technology for small and mid-sized businesses.
  • Advised Epic, a company which set up the World’s Largest Digital Library for Kids in its acquisition by Byju’s, as its India counsel.
  • Advised Onfido, a global leader in identity verification in its acquisition by Entrust, a global leader in trusted payments, identities, and data security, as its India counsel.
  • Advised Pratithi Trust, the Family Office of Kris Gopalakrishnan, in the setting up of the trust as well their day to day functioning including advice on investments, negotiating contracts including relating to publication of ‘Against All Odds- The IT Story of India’, setting up of the ‘Centre for Brain Research at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore’, negotiation of consultant contracts, employment agreements, setting up endowments with different universities, liaising with bankers for overseas direct investment etc.
  • Advised India Innovation Fund, a venture capital fund based out of Bangalore, in sale of its portfolio to TR Capital, one of the well-known secondary private equity investors of Asia Pacific.
  • Advised Elevation Capital, one of the most active venture capital investors in India, in their early to late-stage investments into companies in India, including Aye Finance, Yogabar, Cashflo, Wmall etc.
  • Advised Info Edge Ventures, one of the most active venture capital investors in India, in their early to late-stage investments into companies in India, including Dotpe, Bigfoot Retail Solutions (Shiprocket), Llama Logisol, that owns and operates logistics platform Shipsy etc.
  • Advised OrbiMed, one of the largest healthcare focused funds, in relation to their early as well as late-stage investments into companies in India, including KIMS Healthcare, Asian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Shasun Phrama, Surya Children’s Hospital, Mumbai etc.
  • Advised Exfinity Ventures, one of the most active venture capital investors in India, in their early to late-stage investments into companies in India, including Zyla Health, Autoverse, Corsalite, etc.

Awards & Recognition

  • The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific Rankings 2025 ‘Recommended Lawyer’ for Corporate and M&A and Private Equity Funds (including Venure Capital) in India.
  • IFLR1000 Notable Practitioner for M&A and Private Equity in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020.
  • Asian Legal Business India Rising Star 2021.
  • RSG India 2019 Recommended Lawyer.

Memberships

  • Karnataka State Bar Council.