Venture Capital & Emerging Companies

In this week’s episode of Client Corner, Josh speaks to Carlos Araque, Co-founder and CEO of Quaise Energy. Carlos discusses his motivation in developing Quaise Energy and his guiding philosophy of impact over probability of success. He provides advice to other first-time CEOs and offers insights on the state of diversity in the technology sector.

This issue of MintzTech Connect covers a Globe and Mail piece on Mintz’s continued expansion in Toronto, Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence, Forbes magazine’s recognition of Moolah Kicks founder Natalie White’s inclusion on its “30 Under 30” list, and our Client Corner podcast featuring a conversation with NextGen Jane Co-founder & CEO Ridhi Tariyal.

As reported in Forbes, Natalie White was recognized as a “30 under 30” for Sports.  Natalie founded Moolah Kicks, the first basketball shoe brand focused solely on women. 

In this week’s episode of Client Corner, Member and Host Josh Fox chats with Anna Turetsky, Principal, Venture Investments for the Mark Foundation for Cancer Research.

In this episode of Client Corner, Josh chats with John Edwards, an executive chair, board member, and senior adviser to start-up and clinical-stage biotechnology companies.

In this episode of Client Corner, Member Josh Fox talks with NextGen Jane’s Co-founder and CEO, Ridhi Tariyal about how the company is using precision medicine to transform obstetric and gynecological care.

In this episode of Client Corner, Joshua Fox chats with Jerry Williamson, CEO of Sengenics. Jerry has more than 30 years of experience in bioscience markets for life science research, diagnostics, and analytical products.

This issue of MintzTech Connect covers QSBS issues related to converting an LLC into a corporation, legal decisions regarding cryptocurrencies and whether they are subject to SEC regulation, how Mintz’s partnership with Antler led to our work for oral health innovator peri, and a spotlight on mePrism, a tech company that helps customers remove their personal information from the internet.

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 mePrism, a technology company that helps customers remove their personal information from the internet.

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.

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.

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.

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.