Ten Talks: New Pathways for Companies Looking for Capital
The common understanding of the right to convert debt to equity under a convertible promissory note has shifted following a Nevada county court ruling in Toptal v. Grosz. In the court’s motion granting partial summary...more
As part of our Global PE Trends Webinar Series, Morrison Foerster recently hosted a webinar entitled Structures and Solutions in a Challenging Market, moderated by New York corporate partner Mitchell Presser. The webinar...more
Convertible debt is exceptionally attractive to investors in volatile markets because it offers the security of a bond with the upside of equity. That is why convertible debt was one of the strongest asset classes during the...more
Join us for a webinar series on Investing in University Startup Companies. Topics discussed include legal issues, financial structures and implications. We are grateful for our guest panelists from Activant....more
The convertible debt market has remained remarkably stable over the last 15 months, despite considerable economic uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fenwick’s latest Convertible Debt Terms – Survey of Market Trends...more
Welcome to Ten Talks With Gould & Ratner, a new video series of 10-minute conversations with some of our firm's most experienced attorneys, discussing the latest trends they're seeing in a variety of the industries we serve. ...more
Often viewed as a quick interim source of funding until the next round of equity financing, convertible notes have become ubiquitous in Southeast Asia and India for many early-stage and even late-stage companies looking to...more
The British Business Bank has opened the application process for the Future Fund, a new fund that provides financing to UK start-ups and scale-ups in the form of a convertible loan which is invested directly by the UK...more
On 20 April 2020, the UK government (“Government”) announced the Future Fund, providing financing to UK companies (including to start-ups and scale-ups in the technology and life sciences sectors) in the form of a convertible...more
We live in unprecedented times with global lockdowns and the world economy coming to a standstill in a number of sectors and government interventions to protect income, jobs and businesses. A number of start-ups and high...more
In this report, we compile market data on convertible debt terms based on an analysis of over 100 issuer-side convertible debt transactions deals handled by Fenwick over the 15-month period from January 1, 2018 to March 31,...more
What is a SAFE? SAFE stands for “simple agreement for future equity,” and was created by Y Combinator in 2013 as an alternative to investing via convertible notes. SAFEs are neither equity nor debt – they represent a...more
In this report, we compile market data on convertible debt terms based on an analysis of over 100 issuer-side convertible debt transactions handled by Fenwick over the 15-month period from Jan. 1, 2017 through March 31, 2018....more
After years of increasing acceptance of and reliance on convertible note financings as a mechanism for funding early-stage companies, we have noted a clear emerging trend away from such transactions (and others like them,...more
In this final installment of our series on seed instruments, we explore the Simple Agreement for Future Equity. Startup accelerator Y Combinator (YC) introduced a new seed-stage investing tool, safe—an acronym for...more
Starting a company has never been easier. Technology solutions for payroll, accounting, cloud computing and payment systems have made it much cheaper to take care of the back end. ...more
Overview - In late 2013, startup accelerator Y Combinator unveiled its Simple Agreement for Future Equity (“SAFE”) investment instrument as an alternative to convertible debt. While SAFE templates appeared in...more
Following up on last week’s post regarding how to select your investors for early seed stage financing, we next turn to the tough and nuanced question of choosing between equity and debt, as you must be asking yourself:...more