Venture Capital & Emerging Companies

The world of raising capital changed over the last several years. Offerings of securities generally used to fall into two main buckets: (i) private placements under the old Rule 506, or (ii) a public offering.

According to the FBI, “there are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be.” It does not take an actual data breach, however, for a company to be liable for its data security practices. In March 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) made this clear when it settled its first-ever data security enforcement action against an online payment processing company, Dwolla.

At MintzEdge, we are already thinking about how a recent immigration law development may help our clients grow their ventures. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced a new rule for entrepreneurs. If the rule becomes law, qualified entrepreneurs would be considered for parole (temporary permission to be in the United States) to jumpstart and build their businesses in the United States. The rule is a path-breaking proposal because it seeks to use and retrofit an existing immigration benefit called “parole” to meet the needs of entrepreneurs, who may otherwise be unable to secure a nonimmigrant visa such as an H-1B or E-2 visa.

SeedInvest is a leading equity crowdfunding platform founded in 2012. Its mission is to transform the broken private company fundraising process to make it easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital by opening up access to venture capital and angel investing to everyone. Equity crowdfunding is important because it has the potential to allow founders to spend less time fundraising and more time building their businesses, which is what matters most. It also allows startups to turn their most ardent supporters and customers into investors for the first time.

In this issue, we answer the question we are asked on a weekly basis: Are electronic signatures enforceable? (spoiler alert….the answer is YES). We also feature an amazing company called SeedInvest, a true pioneer in terms of raising a company online from the crowd. Additionally, consistent with our focus on robotics, we have an interesting article about selling your robotics company.

Cynthia Larose – Chair of the Privacy & Security Practice Group at Mintz – was named by the National Diversity Council as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Technology for 2016. Honorees are women serving as top leaders in their organizations and professions, who maintain a record of accomplishments in areas of expertise, operate with the highest integrity, demonstrate a commitment to corporate citizenship, and serve as effective role models to inspire the next generation of female professionals.

We are often presented with the question of whether electronic signatures are enforceable. The answer is yes. There is an entire statutory regime under both state and federal law which gives validity to electronic signatures. This article gives a high level overview of best practices for optimizing your use of electronic signatures.

New York-based advertising powerhouse Grey Group has launched a new, tech-focused unit aimed at engaging directly with the cutting-edge material required by its present and future clients. Called Grey Adventures, the unit will work to create new products, services, and business models for the agency. Partnering with both innovative start-ups and established tech companies alike, the practice combines Grey’s creative capital with its deep, material understanding of the tech space. The team will be led by Evan Kraut, Grey’s managing director of Grey Adventures, and Darren Moran, the agency’s head of innovation.

MintzTech Industry Update - The HALOS Act & The Email Privacy Act

The Venture Café Foundation believes that every person with an idea should feel empowered to become a successful entrepreneur, regardless of background, origin, or education. The company is a Massachusetts Not­for­Profit Corporation, incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to connect the innovation community, expand the definition of innovation, and build a more inclusive innovation economy. The Venture Café Foundation enhances and accelerates the innovation process through workspaces, programs, and conversations for individuals and organizations to gather and build relationships.

Our client Gotham Greens is pioneering the urban agriculture field by providing its diverse retail, restaurant, and institutional customers with premium-quality lettuces and herbs grown from rooftop greenhouses in NYC and Chicago. The company’s pesticide-free, non-GMO produce is grown using ecologically sustainable methods, meeting the highest standards of food safety. Sent to local stores and grocers, its crops are designed for eating, not travel. But the real innovation lies in Gotham Greens’s 100% clean energy–powered, climate-controlled, urban greenhouses, which produce over 50% more crops than conventional greenhouses while using 25% less energy per pound.

In this issue we feature Gotham Greens, an amazing company growing premium quality lettuces and herbs on large urban rooftops in NYC and Chicago. Environmentally conscious and also fast-growing, Gotham Greens epitomizes the ideal of creating meaningful economic value by doing good! We also highlight a number of interesting legal proposals that could affect email privacy and angel investing. Additionally, we discuss a new law that will facilitate the resales of securities of private companies and a new tax credit for biotech companies based in NYC.

Due diligence helps potential investors know they are making a winning bet on your start-up. Hence, investors conduct a detailed look “under the hood” of the company and the company’s IP is at center stage.

A deeper dive into the importance and value of patents and the process to get one – from filing through issuance.

IP 101: This deck gives entrepreneurs the “need-to-know” information about trademarks, copyrights, patents and trade secrets.

The SEC brought a record number of enforcement actions against investment advisers in 2015, resulting in approximately $4.2 billion in sanctions.1 This alert highlights current issues for private equity, venture capital and hedge fund managers and also summarizes certain key required annual filings.

Tips for start-up companies building an immigration petition.

This month we turn the spotlight on Conduce, our client in beautiful Carpinteria, California, that is transforming the way companies see and understand all of their data to make better decisions. Conduce gives leaders a single pane of glass where they can see internal and external data from any source, and explore it any way they want — any data from any source in a single intuitive interface. It puts people in the middle of their data.

As the Northeast begins (hopefully) to thaw out and we head into an early spring (so said the Groundhog), we are excited to deliver our new issue of MintzTech Connect — our bimonthly newsletter on “all things technology” in the legal and business world, from our perspective, of course.

There’s a lot going on in the world of drone or unmanned aerial system (UAS) regulation in the United States. Companies from start-ups to large defense contractors are pursuing commercial opportunities to develop drones and drone technology. At Mintz we are working with companies engaged in UAS manufacturing, aerial survey, and commercial cinematography to help them navigate the complex of regulations.