Technology
Our clients are fascinating and our legal work matches their novel businesses. When Emerge’s clients encounter technological and jurisdictional barriers, they rely on our advice and creativity.
Our attorneys have:
- negotiated sell-side deals to private equity funds, Meta, LinkedIn, Groupon and hundreds of similar private and public companies;
- represented Google, Twitter, cybersecurity, drone and hundreds of private companies in buy-side deals;
- structured and negotiated hundreds of debt and equity financing deals for private and public companies;
- counseled companies in equity financings from Gotham Green Fund, Founder’s Fund, August Ventures, KPCB, Andreesen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia, Deerfield, Prime Movers Lab and dozens of other investors (we also worked on investor-side deals from most of the same group)
- negotiated asset and licensing deals with major software companies, startups, and key investors
Client Industries in 2023:
- social networks in CA
- software and app companies in OR, CA, NY
- VTOL (Vertical Takeoff and Landing) drones in CA
- novel CBD preparations in Canada & OR
- novel psychedelics in OR, CO and Mexico
- novel modalities for behavioral addiction in AZ and CA
- solar energy collection and transmission in CA and VA
- digital marketers in NY
- digital ad agencies in CA
- edTech innovators in NY
Emerge guides founders, investors and companies through every stage of financing, from founding to public offering. We are fluent in all iterations of Y Combinator’s SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) and every species of convertible note. Collectively, we have worked on hundreds of National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) financings and represented companies that have graduated from incubators like Y Combinator and TechStars.
Not infrequently, we help excavate new clients from bad advice; clients signed agreements borrowed from another company, or clients whose only advice was friends & blogs. Our attorneys have decades of experience working with growing tech companies; so we know course corrections and we know failure patterns. We rectify oversights, we negotiate retroactive intellectual property assignments, we fix cap tables (and cap structures). Our specialists take a comprehensive approach to examining every aspect of a deal, including labor and talent, tax implications, dispute resolution, IP considerations, and real estate matters. We collaborate proactively to identify and mitigate deal risks and enhance efficiencies.
Tax
We can design deals to maximize tax efficiencies under Subchapter (k) and IRC (Internal Revenue Code) Sections 351 and 368. Our tax specialists have both deal experience and in-house experience, which means they provide advice that’s digestible and value-enhancing. Our tax lawyers provide guidance on Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS), deal-specific trusts and estates, 280G approvals, NSOs and ISOs.
Equity Compensation
Our corporate and tax teams possess the expertise to structure and maintain equity incentives for limited liability companies (LLCs), limited partnerships (LPs), and corporations. We provide sophisticated tax advice necessary for these plans to function as intended. As Radiohead counseled, “no alarms and no surprises.”
