Private Equity & Securities

Startup founders face countless decisions and tasks every day. Fortunately, there aren’t too many early legal decisions that can have lasting, irreversible implications for founders down the road. However, your equity arrangement with co-founders and the company’s early cap table is one thing that should be carefully considered from a…

KO client Stage, a majority female-led private equity group, recently announced the closing of its Fund II. Stage’s mission is to provide an alternative path for early-stage startups and founders, particularly post-Series A. Stage integrates venture capital, private equity, and venture studio model best practices to enable portfolio companies to…

Natural Products Expo West, the industry’s largest trade show, hosted more than 3,000 exhibiting companies and top retailers as well as 65,000 attendees at this year’s event. The show featured new food, beverage, and consumer goods products and innovations. Here’s a closer look at top trends that we expect to…

KO client Fortius Metals, an innovative metal 3D printing company, recently announced that it has closed on a $2 million seed round with AM Ventures. According to the press release, Fortius Metals’ patented technology will enable welding and 3D wire fabrication using high-performance metal alloys to meet the demands of aerospace,…

After record highs in 2021, recent reports show a global pullback in venture capital funding with a 33 percent drop from Q2 to Q3 2022. However, as founders prepare to weather a tougher fundraising environment, there is still some positive news. Nationally, dry powder, which is the amount of capital…

KO client MadKudu recently announced that it has raised $18 million in Series A funding. MadKudu is the Product-Led-Growth (PLG) pioneer disrupting the software industry, working with clients like Miro, Dropbox, Cloudera, Amplitude, Plaid, Unity and Mapbox. The Series A round was led by Felicis with participation from BGV, Alven,…

Five new U.S. state privacy laws go into effect in 2023. Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, and Utah have followed California in enacting CCPA-like comprehensive consumer privacy legislation. Additionally, California’s comprehensive consumer privacy law will receive a major overhaul on January 1, 2023. In the absence of a federal privacy law, businesses…

KO client Watchmaker Genomics, a life sciences company specializing in the development of high-stringency applications focused on the reading, writing and editing of DNA and RNA, has raised $40M to expand its clinical sequencing product offerings.   The KO team, led by partner Jon Taylor, of counsel Melissa Mellen and attorney…