1. Home
  2. People
  3. Padgett, Zac

Zac Padgett

Partner

Austin

Zac helps public and private technology companies as well as private equity funds and their portfolio companies navigate investments, acquisitions and exits.

Zac advises clients on:

  • growth equity transactions
  • buyout acquisitions and mergers
  • venture capital investments
  • exit transactions
  • take-private deals
  • management buyouts
  • joint ventures
  • private placements
  • debt-like preferred equity and project finance investments

Zac is passionate about legal tech and implementing AI tools to enhance legal services. He helps lead the firm’s MAPE 2.0 project team, a platform that transforms M&A execution, which won the Financial Times' Reinventing the Legal Practice category.

Zac also co-leads the firm’s Energy Tech Team and focuses on supporting companies and investors developing technologies like hyperscale data centers, alternative fuels, carbon capture, eVTOL aircraft, agtech and digital infrastructure. Zac is a key member of Orrick's energy transition practice, which is recognized as Band 1 in Energy Transition by Chambers USA (2025).

  • Zac enjoys riding bicycles and commuting to the office by bike.

  • Tech, Telecom and AI

    • Casetext in its sale to Thomson Reuters
    • Ooma in its acquisitions of Phone.com, FluentStream, 2600Hz, Inc. and OnSIP
    • Vicarious in its sale to Intrinsic
    • Reserve in its sale to Resy
    • XCOM in its acquisition of M87
    • Inspire Semiconductor in its IPO
    • Splunk in its acquisition of SignalSense
    • Janrain in its sale to Akamai

    Private Equity and Growth Equity

    • Banneker and its portfolio companies in various M&A and growth equity transactions
    • Warburg Pincus in its investments in Qualifacts and Duetto
    • Endeavour Capital in its investment in FMI Aerostructures
    • Solis Capital Partners in its investment in User Research International
    • Trucordia (formerly PCF Insurance) in its investments from Carlyle, HGGC and Blue Owl, including its US$1.3 billion strategic investment from Carlyle’s Global Credit platform, and 30+ acquisitions across key insurance markets
    • Aptean in its acquisition of Connect

    Energy Tech and Mobility

    • Toyota in its investments in FirstElement Fuel and Joby Aviation
    • PROENERGY Holdings in its strategic investment by Energy Capital Partners
    • Last Mile in its acquisition of Gotcha Mobility
    • Photon Marine in its seed investment round
    • Blue Forest in its investment in Heartwood Biomass
    • OpenCar in its sale to INRIX
    • Routeware in its acquisitions of ReCollect, Core Computing Solutions and RouteOptix
    • Vigor Industrial in its acquisition of Oregon Iron Works and Kvichak Marine Industries

    HealthTech and Life Sciences

    • SOC Telemed, a Warburg Pincus portco, in its SPAC transaction, acquisition of Access Physicians, and take-private with Patient Square
    • Qualifacts in its acquisition of Credible
    • APDM Wearable Technologies in its sale to ERT

    Consumer, Gig Economy and Retail

    • Eversight in its sale to Instacart
    • Trax in its acquisitions of Survey and Shopkick
    • Gap in the sale of Janie & Jack and Intermix
    • NECA in its combination with Enesco
    • iCracked in its sale to Allstate
    • Teespring in its acquisition by Amaze

    Venture Capital

    • Applied Materials in its Series B investment in Spin Memory
    • Heidi Ho Organics in its Series A financing
    • Hemex in its Series A financing