Start-ups and New Technologies
General description
The novelty of our clients’ ventures is often defined by innovative technological and business solutions that are only just making their way in the existing economic landscape. Therefore, we know that our presence is indispensable not only in the context of bringing your company to life, but also in providing you with professional legal support regarding services and products, whose market potential is not yet known and which bear a high legal risk.
How can we help you?
Our Law Firm supports the Client in the entire process of establishing a legal vehicle, starting from collecting initial documents, to registration and negotiating the terms of cooperation with external service providers. We offer, inter alia:
- advice on choosing a legal and organizational form that is most in line with the conducted business activity and on implementing a corporate structure suited to the Client’s business assumptions regarding the undertaking (e.g. using a holding structure or another legal vehicle for the purposes of potential future events – e.g. tax refund, transfer of assets, etc.),
- drawing up or verifying documents which establish an entity’s legal existence (e.g. articles of association, foundation charter) and other basic corporate documents (e.g. statements of appointment, resolutions, board regulations, share ledger, etc.),
- optimizing the market entry process and the offering development process (from a minimum viable product, through a market fit product, to a target product),
- corporate services at every stage of the entity’s development,
- support in modeling, drafting and negotiating contracts with your customers or suppliers,
- developing and implementing effective mechanisms to secure your know-how, technology and knowledge,
- advising founders, owners and managers of start-ups on attracting investors, negotiating investment agreements as well as the terms and conditions of ESOP (employee share option plan) and investments exits,
- preparing solutions (not interpretations – we are not too fond on academic approach) to legal issues which occurred in the entity’s operation, taking into consideration the latest regulatory or legislative changes (e.g. in terms of intellectual property or trademark protection),
- furthermore: experience from working with other teams that have faced similar challenges and problems, so we know how to solve them
Examples of our lawyers’ achievements:
- Completing several dozens of venture capital or private equity investments in startup companies, where the scope of services comprised, depending on the project: transaction modeling and structuring, term sheet, due diligence, investment agreement, shareholders agreement, accompanying documentation, negotiations regarding transaction terms and conditions as well as content of documentation,
- Offering recommendations to several dozens of companies regarding the optimal form of raising capital: depending on the form (e.g. investment in exchange for shares, investment by means of a convertible loan, cash/non-cash investment) or the character of the investor (e.g. from non-fund investors, from funds – either Polish or foreign, privately-funded or with government / EU funding), to ensure a dynamic development path until reaching the status of a unicorn,
- Support for a late-seed company in implementing a project aimed at flipping the company from Poland to the U.S., i.e. moving its center of operations to the U.S. in order to increase investment attractiveness and facilitate acquisition of financing from the U.S.,
- Completing a joint venture project with a value of PLN 8 million for a company operating in new tech industry, including structuring, joint venture agreement, shareholders agreement and preparing accompanying documentation,
- Over a dozen business angels’ investments in startups, scope depending on the project: transaction modeling and structuring / due diligence / negotiations / investment agreement / shareholders agreement / accompanying documentation; including cross-border projects; value of a single transaction ranging from several hundred thousand PLN to 2 million PLN,
- Private equity fund services – including over 20 investments in seed-stage companies – investment policy, limited legal due diligence, model investment structure, model investment documentation, ongoing support in negotiations – value of a single transaction not exceeding PLN 1 million.
