Forming and Funding: Emerging Companies, Venture Capital & Securities

Founders & Entrepreneurs. We work with entrepreneurs that not only build companies, but build movements. Whether rooted in green technology and sustainability, novel pharmaceuticals and medical devices, or developing new ways to extract, analyze, and display data, emerging growth companies achieve rapid scale by exploiting under-developed markets and models.  With cash flow at a premium, entrepreneurs fund and capitalize their ventures by winning grants and pitch competitions, paying service providers in equity, and eventually, obtaining funding from angel investors, venture capitalists, and private equity sponsors. 

We team with founders at the earliest stages of a venture’s life cycle to navigate and understand complex securities, regulatory, and financial matters.  Early issues like perfecting intellectual property rights, establishing vesting schedules, and conducting private offerings of securities are make-or-break for a successful business. Navigating these early issues requires experienced counsel that understands these unique markets, financial structures, and the expectations and tactics of investors. 

At Rockridge®, our model is to grow with you, so that your success is our success–and we can lead you all the way from seed, to Series C, to IPO. We often facilitate client successes through fixed-fee packages that promote communication, efficiency, and transparency.  With us, you can spend your time and money growing your business, instead of negotiating the bill. 

The best lawyers are those who seamlessly blend with founders and integrate their activities into growth operations of the company. “Counselor” derives from counsel, after all; in other words, a regular advisor for business activities. Sometimes it is easier for early or new founders to understand the types of transactional support we offer. These include:

Investors, Venture Capitalists, and Private Equity Sponsors. Our team of D.C., New York, and Silicon Valley expats counsel investors, venture capitalists, and private equity sponsors on formation, due diligence, and complex financial strategies. From small to large-cap funds alike we counsel investors not only on venture deals and growth investments, mezzanine financings, and LBOs, but also on the tax strategies (e.g, tax-free rollovers), regulatory hurdles, and fiduciary obligations. By leveraging our experience as hard science Ph.Ds,  National Institute of Health RADx advisors, and NVCA members, we provide the expertise necessary to evaluate the technical and proprietary assets that justify the underlying investment and close the deal. Our access to deal flow allows our clients to leverage our experience to better understand the market.

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