Marko Trivun Partner | Toronto, Ottawa

About Marko

Marko is a partner in Blakes Emerging Companies & Venture Capital group, specializing in venture capital financings, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic commercial transactions. Marko regularly advises a range of investors with an interest in emerging companies, including venture capital, growth equity, private equity, pension fund and strategic investors. He also represents founders, emerging companies and growth stage companies on debt and equity financings, corporate structure, investor relations, incentive plans and intellectual property matters.

Marko's expertise extends across a broad range of industry sectors, including technology, artificial intelligence, fintech, cleantech, insurtech, blockchain, advanced manufacturing and life sciences, among others.

Marko also brings valuable business insights to the Firm, providing advice on project management and efficiencies in service delivery and developing workflows and new technology solutions to support our service delivery.

Prior to joining Blakes, Marko was a founder of the venture capital and startup practice of another national Canadian law firm.

Select Experience

Marko has advised:

GGV Capital in their investment in Arteria AI, a company that sells AI-powered software designed to help financial institutions generate, collaborate on, and analyze various documents
A financial modelling organization in connection with its US$70-million Series C financing.
A major Canadian pension fund as an investor in the US$70-million Series C financing of a leading provider of financial data and analytics.
An independent asset manager on its acquisition of a minority ownership stake in an independent Canadian wealth management company.
Canada's largest financial technology in its acquisition of an innovative, AI-powered online ordering provider for restaurateurs.
A global long-term investor in the US$250-million funding round of a Vancouver-based blockchain company.
A Toronto-based B2B automotive trading platform in the completion of its US$10-million equity funding to continue global expansion
A lead investor in the US$10-million equity funding of a Toronto-based B2B automotive trading platform
A major Canadian pension fund as an investor in the US$500-million Series G financing of a San Francisco-based table management software company.
A Japanese multinational company in its investment in a Canadian cleantech company that develops carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions for the concrete industry.
A major Canadian pension fund, as one of the lead investors in the C$158-million Series E financing of a leading global provider of restaurant technology solutions
A multinational professional services company in its acquisition of certain professional services assets from a leading financial services software company.
A multinational professional services company in its investment a leading financial services software company's Series B financing.
An AI-focused incubator in its minority investment in a Quebec-based startup developing a 3D interactive modeling software.
A major Canadian bank in its C$2.585-billion acquisition of a wealth management platform for physicians.
A syndicate of underwriters in a major Canadian bank's C$1.725-billion public offering of common shares.
A major Canadian bank in its C$950-million acquisition of one of Canada's leading independent investment firms.
A major Canadian bank in its acquisition of loan assets and in connection with its launch of an innovation banking platform.

Professional Activities

Marko is a member of the Law Society of Ontario. He completed the Stanford Graduate School of Business Leading Change and Organizational Renewal Program, a strategic business program designed for promoting innovation, strategy and organizational leadership.

Marko is an active member of the community. He represents on a pro bono basis Aman Lara, an organization dedicated to helping evacuate vulnerable people from Afghanistan and Ukraine. He is a member of the board of directors of Cota, a not-for-profit, community-based organization that supports adults with mental health and cognitive challenges. He also spent six years as a member of the board of Mainstay Housing (now called Houselink & Mainstay), a non-profit agency which provides housing for mental health consumer-survivors, where he served a term as a member of its Housing Planning and Development Committee and chaired its Governance Committee. Marko also was a director on the board of the Institute of Competitiveness and Prosperity, an independent, not-for-profit organization founded by Professor Roger Martin that focused on improving public understanding of macro and microeconomic factors behind Ontario's economic progress.