Venture Capital & Emerging Companies

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mintz is proud to be one of the exclusive legal sponsors of the 2016 MIT 100K Competition providing mentorship to semi-finalists and support for the many events during the course of the competition.

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 we ring in the new year, we thought we would remind everyone why the importance of a comprehensive trademark search for a new company name and for a new trademark cannot be overstated:

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.

So it may seem like a ridiculous question. Who can own a thought? But it is a bit more difficult to answer this question from a legal perspective than you may think.

Start-ups can use all the sound advice they can get, especially if they can get it for free. One source of “free” advice is an advisory board made up of people who can add value to your business.

The “Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes” (PATH) Act was recently signed into law, and two provisions in particular benefit venture capital, private equity, and other investors owning or planning to purchase a corporation.

On December 4, 2015, the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (the “FAST Act”) was signed into law by President Obama.

2016 promises to be another very good year to invest in start-ups because of the extension of significant tax breaks for investors who invest in early stage companies.

What is my company worth? What should I tell the investors my valuation is for the next round of financing?

The way most businesses are initially funded is by the three Fs. That is, by "friends, family, and fools." After all, who else would provide the initial seed capital to start a new enterprise? But self-funding (or relying on friends and families) will only take you so far in building out your new business.