Technology

This issue of MintzTech Connect covers QSBS issues related to converting an LLC into a corporation, legal decisions regarding cryptocurrencies and whether they are subject to SEC regulation, how Mintz’s partnership with Antler led to our work for oral health innovator peri, and a spotlight on mePrism, a tech company that helps customers remove their personal information from the internet.

Read about mePrism, a technology company that helps customers remove their personal information from the internet.

Read about how Mintz’s partnership with startup accelerator and venture capital firm Antler led to Mintz’s work for oral health innovator peri. 

Despite choppy market conditions for private companies, the Mintz Venture Capital & Emerging Companies team remained busy advising emerging companies of all sizes and at all stages of growth across a wide range of industries. For the first half of 2023 we completed 72 transactions, with an aggregate deal value in excess of $1.6 billion. Below are a few highlighted transactions:

Spring is in the air but it is a challenging time to understand which way the wind is blowing on the emerging companies space. On the one hand, we saw a pause in investment activity at the end of 2022 and the first few months in 2023. On the other hand, we have seen a noticeable uptick of investment activity in the last six weeks. Again, on the one hand (a different set of hands) we recently saw a significant market correction in terms of valuations. But on the other hand, we have not seen a lot of the more punitive investment terms such as multiple participating preferences or pay to play provisions that we witnessed in the great recession in 2009 and the post bubble period in 2001.

Coefficient is a B2B SaaS platform that enables users to improve business insights and increase productivity for operations, analyst and finance professionals at enterprises of all sizes. Founded in 2019 and based in San Francisco, Coefficient recently raised $18 million in a Series A financing round from Battery Ventures, S28 Capital and Foundation Capital to grow its platform.

This issue of MintzTech Connect covers the nuanced venture capital marketplace, the rising trend of extension rounds for emerging companies, matching investment funds available for New York early stage start-ups, and a spotlight on Moolah Kicks, the first and only sneaker made to biomechanically fit female athletes.

Read about Moolah Kicks, the first and only women’s basketball brand with sneakers made to biomechanically fit female athletes.

This edition of Mintz Venture Watch reports on the firm’s VC transaction activity in 2022, including data for Q3 and Q4. Mintz represented issuers and investors in the life sciences, cybersecurity, energy, and other sectors in more than 128 transactions valued at more than $3 billion in 2022.  

Read about Ben Zises, angel investor, fund manager, and founder of SuperAngel.Fund, the fund’s investments in quip and other consumer product companies, and the evolution of the fund.

This issue of MintzTech Connect covers top ways to accelerate the growth of emerging companies, our From the Edge podcast on how to run an effective board meeting, and a spotlight on SuperAngel.Fund and its founder Ben Zises.

Read about Radicle Science, a San Diego AI–driven health tech start-up with a virtual, direct-to-consumer (D2C) clinical trial model designed to validate and predict the effects of health and wellness products.

Read about Adgile Media Group, a national out-of-home (OOH) advertising company that provides delivery vehicle wraps and uses a data platform to track exposure to the ads.

Non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) grabbed mainstream attention in 2021 with news of digital art and collectibles selling for millions. But headlines reporting NFTs selling for millions were short-lived. “Crypto winter” cast a chill across the crypto world – prices and interest in the digital art and images that became synonymous with NFTs plummeted.

We previously discussed which portions of an artificial intelligence/machine-learning (“AI/ML”) platform could be patented or protected under trade secret, such as related to biotech and synthetic biology.  Equally important to the discussion of how to protect components of an AI/ML platform, however, is the extent to which copyright protection may be useful or beneficial to the developer of the platform.  In this post, we explain what can be protected by copyright in an AI/ML platform.  We also explore when it is appropriate to protect portions of AI/ML platforms using a copyright, how to properly enforce copyrights, as well as when to consider using copyright protection over patent or trade secret protection.

Used properly, Open Source Software (OSS) is an excellent tool. It saves your business time and money, enables interoperability of product platforms, and developers love it. But used improperly, it can be financially and operationally devastating. For example, the statutory damages for failure to properly adhere to the OSS copyright notice can be up to $150,000 per act of infringement. Those damages can quickly add up to serious consequences, whether preventing a sale or merger of your company or the destruction of the value of the affected products. Another serious risk is that once OSS is used in your code base and deployed in distributed products, if your tech teams are not monitoring and applying bug fixes, known vulnerabilities become Trojan horses of opportunity for bad actors. The good news is that protecting your company from these types of risks is rather simple. We have outlined below key steps and processes in-house counsel should take to work with your business stakeholders to mitigate these risks.   

Interest in cryptocurrency investments has been increasing at a rapid pace and employers don't want to be left behind. In this webinar, team members from Mintz’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Practice break down key considerations employers face towards designing compensation programs to pay employees in the form of cryptocurrencies.

Founded by Dilan Shah in 2019, YUR fit is a leader in accessible fitness technology in the gaming space. YUR’s gamified social layer pairs with virtual and augmented reality games to allow gamers to sync health data, such as exercise, sleep, and nutrition. YUR can be used within almost any digital space, allowing gamers to use various wearables and gaming platforms for fitness tracking.