Ex-Yelp Top Lawyer Wilson Joins Language Services Startup Cambly

Cambly Inc., an education technology startup offering English language services through a video platform, has hired Laurence Wilson as its general counsel.

Wilson was the first-ever lawyer hired in-house at Yelp Inc. He retired earlier this year from the San Francisco-based technology company that he helped take public a decade ago and turn into a hub for online business reviews.

The education and technology space saw a boom in in-house legal hiring during the pandemic. Edtech companies looked to serve clients coping with lockdown orders sought legal expertise as regulators took an interest in distance learning.

Wilson joined Cambly as its first in-house lawyer in mid-September, he said via email. The privately held company has the same early institutional investors as Yelp in Benchmark Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners, which was part of the attraction in joining the San Francisco-based startup, Wilson said.

He was also drawn to Cambly’s “mission and focus” to help the roughly 1.5 billion people around the world “trying to learn English,” Wilson said. The company, which was founded in 2012 and has its roots in technology startup accelerator Y Combinator, raised $60 million in venture funding in June.

Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr has advised Cambly on its past fundraising efforts, Wilson said. Public records show the law firm has also handled trademark work for Cambly, which makes a one-on-one video chat app that connects users looking to learn English with tutors.

Wilson wasn’t one of Yelp’s five highest-paid executives in 2021, according to a proxy statement filed by the company earlier this year. Securities filings show he sold off almost $4.8 million in Yelp stock last year. Wilson currently owns nearly $6 million in Yelp stock, per Bloomberg data.

Yelp’s proxy did disclose that Wilson’s spouse and the company’s chief diversity officer, Miriam Warren, received a $300,000 base salary last year. Yelp also paid nearly $2,900 to help Warren and Wilson prepare their tax returns due to Warren being seconded to an overseas subsidiary, the company said.

Warren owns about $1.5 million in Yelp stock, according to Bloomberg data.