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Startup and Venture Capital

Contact

  • Antonia Verna
    Partner
    averna@portolano.it
    • Milan +39 02 722341
    Bio
    Antonia Verna
Our “startup team” attorneys have expertise in a range of practice areas including corporate and litigation and knowledge of all the insutrial sectors. Our main goal is to assist startups and investors in creating and developing new business opportunities.

We promote networking activities with venture capital funds/investors to offer this international network to entrepreneurs; we organize workshops on legal topics for startups and investors; and we support several domestic and international startup events.

We are the first law firm in Italy to provide the public with an example of a term sheet for an A round investment. Our wish is that this document can offer useful suggestions and encourage a collective work of aggregation and elaboration aimed at defining a standard term sheet accepted by the market.

The document is currently available only in Italian, but we are working on an English version.

Below are some of the assistance legal services we usually provide to startups:

  • assessment of the legal viability of the business model with attention to regulatory issues, suggesting, if necessary, appropriate amendments/additions;
  • choice and constitution of the corporate vehicle, and definition of corporate governance rules by drawing up the Articles of Association (with particular attention to innovative startups legislation) and, where appropriate, also shareholders’ agreements;
  • protection of intellectual property rights: brands, software, inventions, design, operational processes and know-how owned by the startup;
  • documentation in support of the transfer/sale by the original owner to the startup of intellectual property rights on intangible assets;
  • drafting and negotiation of confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements and software development and licensing agreements;
  • drafting and negotiation of contracts for the delivery of SaaS;
  • preparation of terms and conditions of use of a digital service platform, as well as drafting of commercial contracts regulating business relations with third parties (both customers and suppliers);
  • drafting of commercial agreements with technology partners and otherwise;
  • privacy assessment, drafting of privacy and cookies policies, drafting and negotiation of data transfer agreements, if applicable;
  • definition of the organization’s chart and assistance in the drafting of employment contracts, as well as cooperation, non-competition and stability agreements;
  • preparation of incentive plans that also include the use of work for equity instruments through the allocation of company shares or option rights to purchase company shares or to subscribe equity financial instruments (including convertible instruments);
  • supporting documentation for the issuance of equity instruments (including convertible instruments) in favor of employees, consultants or directors, drafting of related regulation and fulfillment of corporate deeds necessary for its implementation;
  • evaluation and implementation of alternative forms of financing for startups (e.g., public offerings of equity and crowdfunding processes);
  • assistance in investment transactions; negotiation, finalization and drafting of the term sheet, investment agreements and shareholders’ agreements and any other documents or formalities required by market best practices in venture capital operations;
  • evaluation of negotiation strategies and tools to be used to protect the position of founding members following the entry of new members into the capital structure (e.g., issuance of warrants; special categories of shares; stock option plans; non-competition and stability agreements, exit proposals, etc.).

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