Venture Capital & Emerging Companies

Read about how Mintz’s partnership with startup accelerator and venture capital firm Antler led to Mintz’s work for oral health innovator peri. 

Read about the benefits and risks of deferring the conversion of an LLC into a corporation in order to benefit from the qualified small business stock (QSBS) rules of the US tax code.

Despite choppy market conditions for private companies, the Mintz Venture Capital & Emerging Companies team remained busy advising emerging companies of all sizes and at all stages of growth across a wide range of industries. For the first half of 2023 we completed 72 transactions, with an aggregate deal value in excess of $1.6 billion. Below are a few highlighted transactions:

Just barely two weeks ago, we wrote about the half-victory for Ripple Labs in its ongoing litigation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), in which Judge Analisa Torres granted partial summary judgment in favor of Ripple on the issue of whether certain sales of Ripple’s XRP cryptocurrency tokens were “securities” under the federal securities laws. Some in the crypto industry interpreted her ruling to mean that secondary transactions in crypto assets on centralized and decentralized crypto exchanges were not transactions in “securities,” even though Judge Torres expressly declined to address the secondary trading issue. Fast forward to today, and a new ruling out of the SDNY against Terraform Labs casts further doubt on this interpretation.

Turning innovation into a successful business can be daunting. In a panel discussion at the BIO International Convention, Mintz’s Josh Fox, who is a Member in our Chambers-ranked Life Sciences practice, alongside Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professors Robert Langer, Angela Koehler, and Giovanni Traverso, examined the challenges associated with spinning out  innovations from academic and research institutions, including how to build a team to run a new company and how to fund startups, particularly those that may not attract traditional venture capital easily (or at all). Here are their five key takeaways.

Mintz welcomed investors and entrepreneurs from the Canadian and US life sciences ecosystem to our first annual matchmaking event in Toronto. In this video, hear about cross-border considerations for the sector and how Mintz’s life sciences focus positions us to guide emerging growth companies and investors doing business in both countries.

Coefficient is a B2B SaaS platform that enables users to improve business insights and increase productivity for operations, analyst and finance professionals at enterprises of all sizes. Founded in 2019 and based in San Francisco, Coefficient recently raised $18 million in a Series A financing round from Battery Ventures, S28 Capital and Foundation Capital to grow its platform.

Spring is in the air but it is a challenging time to understand which way the wind is blowing on the emerging companies space. On the one hand, we saw a pause in investment activity at the end of 2022 and the first few months in 2023. On the other hand, we have seen a noticeable uptick of investment activity in the last six weeks. Again, on the one hand (a different set of hands) we recently saw a significant market correction in terms of valuations. But on the other hand, we have not seen a lot of the more punitive investment terms such as multiple participating preferences or pay to play provisions that we witnessed in the great recession in 2009 and the post bubble period in 2001.

Generative artificial intelligence creates content and work efficiencies but also comes with legal pitfalls. Mintz Venture Capital & Emerging Companies Practice Co-chair Jeremy Glaser and Associate Lorena Niebla look at the technology's potential uses as well as risks related to data privacy, intellectual property, and more.

This issue of MintzTech Connect covers the nuanced venture capital marketplace, the rising trend of extension rounds for emerging companies, matching investment funds available for New York early stage start-ups, and a spotlight on Moolah Kicks, the first and only sneaker made to biomechanically fit female athletes.

Read about Moolah Kicks, the first and only women’s basketball brand with sneakers made to biomechanically fit female athletes.

This edition of Mintz Venture Watch reports on the firm’s VC transaction activity in 2022, including data for Q3 and Q4. Mintz represented issuers and investors in the life sciences, cybersecurity, energy, and other sectors in more than 128 transactions valued at more than $3 billion in 2022.  

Venture capital investment in United States start-ups is projected to decline in 2022 by over one-third from 2021 levels. And while down rounds remain infrequent relative to historical trends, there has been a notable upward tick in their occurrence, particularly in the fourth quarter of 2022. In light of this slowing market, companies that have already secured venture capital funding are increasingly utilizing extension rounds, which involve the infusion of additional funding from existing or new investors under the same terms as the previous financing round. 

This issue of MintzTech Connect covers top ways to accelerate the growth of emerging companies, our From the Edge podcast on how to run an effective board meeting, and a spotlight on SuperAngel.Fund and its founder Ben Zises.

Read about Ben Zises, angel investor, fund manager, and founder of SuperAngel.Fund, the fund’s investments in quip and other consumer product companies, and the evolution of the fund.

Emerging companies are a critical source of growth for our economy. Startup enterprises generate many new jobs, and new jobs are a prime accelerator of economic growth. Additionally, and most importantly, new jobs provide financial security to many families and communities. This is where it all starts. Having practiced law in the emerging companies space for several decades, here are our top fix ways to accelerate the growth of emerging companies.

Read about Radicle Science, a San Diego AI–driven health tech start-up with a virtual, direct-to-consumer (D2C) clinical trial model designed to validate and predict the effects of health and wellness products.

Read about Adgile Media Group, a national out-of-home (OOH) advertising company that provides delivery vehicle wraps and uses a data platform to track exposure to the ads.