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MintzTech Connect Industry News - April 2019

Dear Readers, 

Happy spring! As the weather warms up on the East Coast we continue to see heated activity in the private company space and financing activities remain robust. While there has been some softness in the market for digital securities due to concerns about compliance and the lackluster pricing of virtual currencies, we remain bullish on this space. We like to remind all our readers that it is still early innings for digital securities, and many new technologies such as blockchain software are often over-hyped in the short term but under-hyped for the long term.

We have a number of articles in this edition that we think you will find interesting and informative. We lead with a client alert on the SEC’s recent no action letter regarding utility tokens. We believe that this no action letter, together with the new Framework for “Investment Contract” Analysis of Digital Assets concurrently issued by the SEC with the no action letter, makes clear that financing activities using blockchain software will need to be structured as digital securities and not as utility tokens. We follow with articles relating to (i) raising capital as a public benefit corporation, (ii) resales of private securities using the relatively new Section 4(a)(7) under the Securities Act of 1933, and (iii) distributing equity among the various stakeholders in a start-up entity. Lastly, we have included a recent podcast on employment law basics for those enterprises doing business in California.

And finally, thanks to all our readers for your support. As recently reported in the press, Mintz had a record performance in terms of revenues and profits for its fourth consecutive year. None of this happens in a vacuum and we recognize that collaboration with our clients is one of the keys to our mutual success. We look forward to working with many of you in the years to come. As always, we welcome your questions and inquiries, and be sure to visit our website for emerging companies @ www.mintzedge.com. Sign up here to receive email alerts when new articles are posted to MintzEdge.com.

Sincerely yours,
Dan + Sam


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Authors

Daniel I. DeWolf

Member / Chair, Technology Practice; Co-chair, Venture Capital & Emerging Companies Practice

Daniel I. DeWolf is an authority on growth companies and serves as Chair of Mintz's Technology Practice Group and Co-chair of the firm’s Venture Capital & Emerging Companies Practice. He has worked on pioneering online capital-raising methods. He also teaches venture capital law at NYU Law School.

Samuel Asher Effron

Member / Co-chair, Venture Capital & Emerging Companies Practice

Samuel Asher Effron assists Mintz clients with venture capital and private equity transactions, helping start-ups with legal and business matters. He has clients in a variety of technology sectors, including video gaming, music, virtual and augmented reality, and consumer electronics.