Stubbs Alderton & Markiles client Outstanding Foods, maker of PigOut Pigless Pork Rinds, announced it has closed a $5M round of financing led by SternAegis Ventures. Additionally, the plant-based brand welcomes LA Laker JaVale McGee to its impressive roster of celebrity investors. This additional capital will facilitate faster R&D, nationwide marketing, retail expansion, and team development.
To read the full press release visit here.
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles’ attorneys representing Outstanding Foods in this deal are Caroline Cherkassky and Andrew Sahn.
About Outstanding Foods
Built on the burning desire to make plant-based foods tasty as hell, Outstanding Foods creates foods for everyone without sacrificing taste or texture. Beginning with wholesome 100% plant-based ingredients, packed with protein and other health benefits, each product is skillfully prepared for superb taste and superior texture and is free from gluten, soy, GMOs, trans fats, and cholesterol. The brand also gives back, partnering with non-profits that help improve the well-being of farm animals, the environment, and the health of the communities it serves. Its newest product Outstanding's PigOut Pigless Pork Rinds are available direct to consumers at www.outstandingfoods.com and select retailers nationwide.
For more information about our Emerging Growth & Venture Capital Practice, contact Scott Alderton at or Louis Wharton at .
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles client, Morpheus Ventures co-led, with Alpha Edison, Drop's Series A funding round raising a total of $13.3 million. The round also had participation from Act Venture Capital. Drop, the leading smart kitchen platform, is ushering in a new era for home cooking, in partnership with the world's biggest appliance makers like Instant Brands, Kenwood, and Panasonic. Drop believes it can unify the fragmented cooking experience by integrating appliances of all kinds with a recipe app that makes perfect cooking simple. Steve Horowitz, partner at Alpha Edison, and Ray Musci, managing director at Morpheus Ventures, will also join Drop's board of directors.
"Consumers are looking for ease of use, less friction, and security," said Ray Musci, Managing Director at Morpheus Ventures. "The brands working with Drop drive engagement through a rich UX with data that informs better product development. Demonstrating value like that for both the consumer and manufacturer is how the connected kitchen will thrive."
To read the full press release visit here.
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles' attorneys representing Morpheus in this deal are Caroline Cherkassky and Brent Armitage.
About Morpheus Ventures
Morpheus Ventures invests in the disruption of large markets across the technology landscape from consumer to enterprise technologies including data analytics, machine learning, robotics, transportation, and SaaS. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles and backs great entrepreneurs worldwide. For more information, see www.morpheus.com.
For more information about our Emerging Growth & Venture Capital Practice, contact Scott Alderton at or Louis Wharton at .
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles' client, 3D Glass Solutions, Inc. (3DGS), a leading innovator of glass-based, three dimensional (3D) passive RF devices, has announced that it has closed $12 million in series B equity funding, bringing the company’s total equity funding to more than $19 million. With the successful close of this round of equity funding, 3DGS is now well-positioned for continued manufacturing expansion and acceleration of its technology roadmap.
To read the full press release from 3D Glass Solutions, visit here.
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles’ attorneys representing 3DGS in this matter are Caroline Cherkassky and Scott Alderton.
About 3D Glass Solutions, Inc.
Based in Albuquerque, NM, 3D Glass Solutions, Inc. is an innovative RF passive device design and manufacturing company that develops novel, high-frequency 3D components. Leveraging the unique properties of its APEX® glass-ceramic material, the company’s technology enables performance not possible with traditional 2D components. The result is passive components with superior electrical performance and ultra-low transmission loss at high frequencies ranging from 1 to 200 GHz. Using traditional semiconductor processes, 3DGS creates cost-effective, high-precision, high-volume scale components that meet the needs of both consumer commercial and mil/aero system designers.
For more information about our Emerging Growth & Venture Capital Practice, contact Scott Alderton at or Louis Wharton at .
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Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP client Atomico participated in MasterClass’s Series D funding round along with IVP, Javelin Ventures, NEA, Advancit Capital, and Evolution Media raising a total of $80M. This round of funding will be used to expand internationally and to bring more celebrities to MasterClass’s curriculum.
To read the full press release visit here.
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles attorney representing Atomico in this deal is Caroline Cherkassky.
About Atomico
Atomico invests in disruptive technology companies with ambitious founders from Series A onwards. Our experienced team includes founders and operators from the world’s most successful technology firms who partner with our companies as they scale to become global winners. Founded in 2006, Atomico has made over 80 investments into companies including Supercell, Klarna, Stripe, ofo, Lilium, 6Wunderkinder and The Climate Corporation. Atomico’s team includes founders of six billion dollar companies, and operational leaders who were responsible for global expansion, hiring, user growth, and marketing at companies from Skype and Google to Uber, Facebook, and Spotify.
For more information about our Emerging Growth & Venture Capital Practice, contact Scott Alderton at or Louis Wharton at .
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Stubbs Alderton & Markiles client, CDTi, a leader in advanced emission control technology, announced the closing of its previously announced rights offering. At the closing, they issued and sold an aggregate of 4,427,563 shares of its common stock at the subscription price of $0.50 per share, pursuant to the exercise of subscriptions and oversubscriptions in the rights offering from its existing stockholders. CDTi received aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $2.2 million from the rights offering before deducting offering expenses.
Stubbs Alderton attorney representing CDTi Advanced Materials in this transaction was Louis Wharton.
About CDTi Advanced Materials
CDTi develops advanced materials technology for the emissions control market. CDTi’s proprietary technologies provide high-value sustainable solutions to reduce hazardous emissions, increase energy efficiency and lower the carbon intensity of on- and off-road combustion engine systems. With a continuing focus on innovation-driven commercialization and global expansion, CDTi’s breakthrough Powder-to-Coat (P2C™) technology exploits the Company’s high-performance, advanced low-platinum group metal (PGM) emission reduction catalysts. Key technology platforms include Synergized PGM (SPGM™) and Spinel™. For more information, please visit www.cdti.com.
For more information about our Public Securities practice, contact Louis Wharton at
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles and the Preccelerator Program are proud to announce the launch of their Startup Superhero Video Series - featuring SA&M Attorneys, Preccelerator Mentors, and entrepreneurs on topics specific to entrepreneurship and lessons learned throughout the journey.
This week we're featuring SA&M Managing Partner Scott Alderton as he chats about "How to Position Your Company for Financing." Scott is the Co-Chair of the Venture Capital & Emerging Growth practice at Stubbs Alderton, General Partner of SAM CREATV Ventures, and a thought leader in the startup financing space.
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Transcript
Heidi: Tell me a little bit about your practice and experience and what you love most about working with emerging growth companies?
Scott: Sure, I have been doing this for a long time. My practice is broad-ranging. Early on in my career, I was more of a corporate & securities lawyer doing traditional SEC type of work with larger companies. As this thing called the “Internet” began to develop in the '90s, it looked like it was interesting, I transitioned my practice to being more of a technology and venture capital lawyer. I really like working with companies all along their evolutionary path, but I really like working with early-stage companies. They have diverse, wide-ranging needs, they typically don’t have the resources that large companies have. I feel like I can play a vital role as an advisor even more-so than a lawyer. The lawyering part is the easy job to me, the advising part is really the fun part.
Heidi: Let’s talk a little bit about emerging growth companies and how they approach financing. What are some of the things an early stage company should be thinking about when they are going for funding. If they are really early, how do they attract investors?
Scott: I think it's really a couple of things. The first thing that every company needs to do is to decide what its vision is and what kind of company it's going to be. Venture capital is not right for every company and there’s lots of different ways to fund your businesses. The overwhelming majority of businesses do not get funded with venture capital. Venture capital is a way of financing a business through its growth stage. When it has a proven product, when it's found its market and when it now needs to scale and grow. That’s when venture capital comes in and helps a company do that, but to get to that point is challenging. First you need to decide; am I a company that is going to require venture capital and am I company that is going to address a large scaling market, be disruptive, grow to be very large? That’s a venture fundable business. Through the early stage, the second thing you need to figure out is - how am I going to get to the point where professional investors are going to be interested in me? Professional investors are not going to be interested in every company like I said they are going to be interested in companies where they can apply their capital, grow and scale the business.
Heidi: As far as some of the tips that you would give to them, for them to actually attract investors - where do they look for them? Are warm introductions the best thing? What are some of the tactics?
Scott: First of all, don’t look too early. Understand that if you are really going out and seeking traditional, professional investment that you are going to have to have some metrics. You’re going to have to have at least a MVP of a product, you’re going to find a market where that product is being accepted. You are growing and scaling a business in that market. Whether its users or customers - whatever it is - you have to get to that stage first. How do you get to that stage? Well, you get to that stage by raising money from friends and family, from people who know you. From people that are going to invest in you, because you’re the entrepreneur. They believe in you. Relatives, friends, strategic business partners. A second way to look at that is for people who ultimately will be interested in your product, even though you have no metrics or proof of your product today. They will invest in you because they want your product to hit the market. Might be a strategic investment. Figure out a way - come hook or crook- to raise that initial capital to where you can develop your product. Find a market place and the other doors will open.
Heidi: From a legal and business stand-point, how do they best position themselves?
Scott: Early stage companies by necessity cut corners, right? You don’t have resources. You’re boot strapping. You’re making promises that you can’t fully document. You can’t always afford lawyers or professional advisers and that’s fine. Do not second guess any of that. You got to where you are, but when you reach that point where you are now ready to go out and find professional capital, it's important to look internally first. That you look at yourself, do the same kind of diligence with yourself that an investor is going to do on you. That way there are no surprises. Figure out capital issues and fix them. Figure out your employment issues and fix them. Figure out your commercial contracts that you have done on a whim and fix them. So that investors don’t look at you and think good concept, but I am not going to take all this risk.
Heidi: There’s another topic that startups tend to think a lot about but aren't typically fully educated on - how should they approach valuation and dilution?
Scott: I think that people get hung up on valuation because they have some number set in their mind or they have some experience that they talk about with other entrepreneurs. They think they either have to hang on to a certain percentage of their business or it’s not appropriate to give a certain amount at a certain round. You have to come into a financial transaction with an open mind and understand not just what you’re selling and what you have to give up for that. Also, where you are going and where that money is going to take you? I see entrepreneurs being penny wise and a pound foolish all the time. They think they don’t want to be significantly diluted. They end up throwing a wrench in the negotiation or they loose a financing deal because they want to hang on to a few points of equity. In reality that money is going to take them so far that they are going to be vast and more valuable. Its a simple proposition of - there’s a pie and you want a piece of that pie. It's much better to own a smaller piece of a gigantic pie than it is to own a big piece of a small pie.
Heidi: Appreciate you for being here and I’m sure we will have you back for other topics some time soon.
Scott: Thanks, looking forward to it.
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To learn more about our Venture Capital & Emerging Growth Practice, contact Scott Alderton at .
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles client Colle Capital Partners, a global, opportunistic, early stage technology venture fund based in New York, with a presence in San Francisco, has closed its fund, after a strategic investment by Zain Group, a leading innovator of mobile communications in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa. Colle Capital Partners has a diversified technology focus with an emphasis on data in the Energy, Media, Telecommunications, Health IT, Security, and Software Development sector.
To read the full press release visit here.
Stubbs Alderton attorneys representing and acting as Fund Counsel to Colle Capital Partners are Scott Alderton and Jonathan Friedman.
About
Colle Capital Partners is a global, opportunistic, early-stage technology venture fund. Managers have completed deals in various verticals and across all capital structures. They pay special attention to data. Virtually all their deals have an intrinsic relationship with data as they believe that data will drive future growth for all their companies.
For more information about our Venture Capital and Emerging Growth Practice , contact Scott Alderton at
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles's managing partner Scott Alderton was featured on Built In LA this week giving his expert opinion on essential legal advice for early-stage startups.
To find some of the answers to your most difficult startup-related questions, read the full article on Built in LA here.
Scott Alderton is a founding partner of the Firm, Managing Partner, and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. Scott is co-chair of the Firm’s Venture Capital and Emerging Growth Practice Group and chair’s the Firm’s Interactive Entertainment and Video Games Group. Scott advises both public and private clients across a number of industries, including technology, manufacturing and distribution of goods in commerce, finance, the Internet, interactive video games, and new media industries.
To learn more about Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP contact Scott Alderton at
For more about the Preccelerator® Program, contact Heidi Hubbeling, COO at
(310) 746-9803 or
December 2016 -- Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP is pleased to announce that two lawyers have been named to the 2017 Edition of Best Lawyers®, the oldest and most respected peer review publication in the legal profession.
Best Lawyers has published their list for over three decades, earning the respect of the profession, the media, and the public as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals. Its first international list was published in 2006 and since then has grown to provide lists in over 70 countries.
"Best Lawyers is the most effective tool in identifying critical legal expertise," said CEO Steven Naifeh. "Inclusion on this list shows that an attorney is respected by his or her peers for professional success."
Lawyers on the Best Lawyers in America list are divided by geographic region and practice areas. They are reviewed by their peers on the basis of professional expertise, and undergo an authentication process to make sure they are in current practice and in good standing.
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP would like to congratulate the following attorneys named to the 2017 Best Lawyers in America list:
Scott Alderton is a founding partner of the Firm, Managing Partner, and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. Scott is co-chair of the Firm’s Venture Capital and Emerging Growth Practice Group and chair’s the Firm’s Interactive Entertainment and Video Games Group. Scott advises both public and private clients across a number of industries, including technology, manufacturing and distribution of goods in commerce, finance, the Internet, interactive video games, and new media industries.
Michael Sherman is an accomplished trial lawyer in high-stakes, “bet-the-company” litigation, and has represented both large and early-stage companies as well as entrepreneurs in all facets of business and complex commercial litigation. He has evenly split his litigation practice on both the plaintiff and defense side of cases, has first-chaired numerous trials in complex matters in industries as varied as energy, securities, healthcare, environmental, consumer products, technology, project development/finance, advertising, real estate and apparel, and is highly skilled in class actions and unfair competition law.
The official Best Lawyers 2017 publication can be read in its entirety here.
For more information on our Venture Capital and Emerging Growth Practice, contact Scott Alderton at .
For more information on our Business Litigation Practice, contact Michael A. Sherman at .
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP recently completed the formation of Colle Capital Partners I, L.P., a $20M global, opportunistic, early-stage technology venture fund. Managers have completed deals in various verticals and across all capital structures. They pay special attention to data. Virtually all of their deals have an intrinsic relationship with data as they believe that data will drive future growth for all of their companies.
SAM Partner Jonathan Friedman served as lead counsel in connection with the formation of the fund. For further information on SAM’s fund formation practice, please contact Jonathan Friedman at (818) 444-4514 or .
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP announced today that it assisted client HelloTech with its $12.5 Series A Financing to expand their in-home tech support. The funding was led by Madrona Venture Group with participation from Upfront Ventures, CrossCut Ventures, and Accel Partners. HelloTech closed their $4.5M seed funding in February, bringing their total raise to $17M.
HelloTech is a new on-demand tech support service provided by our fully-vetted team of techs. Each HelloTech Hero is hand-selected, background-checked and completes a variety of tests and assessments. In addition to a complete range of tech support services, we also provide new technology consultation and training. We not only fix problems, we educate and help architect a home’s tech eco-system.
In today’s world of connected devices and the Internet of Things, our mission is to make the newest in technology available and understandable to all. We’re making technology in the home simple.
SAM attorneys Scott Alderton and Caroline Cherkassky represented HelloTech in this transaction.
To view the TechCrunch article, click here.
For more information about our Venture Capital & Emerging Growth practice, contact Scott Alderton at or (818) 444-4501.
SA&M client Iris.tv has raised $5.3 million in Series A funding for technology that makes personalized video recommendations to viewers who watch short clips online. The startup’s customers are lifestyle, entertainment, sports and news organizations that own and publish a lot of short videos online, and who want to drive audiences to watch more videos through their own apps or websites rather than on YouTube or Facebook.
Publishers or networks can generate more revenue from videos viewed through their own apps, potentially, said Iris.tv CEO Field Garthwaite, in part because there are fewer distractions there than on social media platforms.
If users do fast-forward past one clip to see another using Iris.tv, the next recommended clip will be a video from the same content company that is tailored around their interests.
Investors in Iris.tv’s funding round included Sierra Wasatch, BDMI, Progress Ventures and individual backers including Machinima founder Allen DeBevoise, Lions Gate CFO James Barge as well as executives from Nielsen and AEG.
SAM Partner Louis Wharton represented Iris.tv in this transaction.
To view the full press release in the Wall Street Journal, click here.
For more information on our Venture Capital & Emerging Growth practice, contact Louis at .
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP client Atomico Ventures announced that it led the $51M investment round to EdTech veteran Knewton. Other investors included GSV Capital, as well as previous backers Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, First Round Capital, FirstMark Capital and Founders Fund, along with debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank.
Knewton is an education technology company that personalizes digital courses so every student is engaged and no one slips through the cracks. As students progress through a Knewton-powered course, Knewton figures out what each student knows and how that student learns best, then recommends what to study next. Teachers use Knewton-powered predictive analytics to detect gaps in knowledge and differentiate instruction for each student.
Knewton plans on using the funds to expand its company into a global business, including adding 80-100 new employees to strengthen its existing data science and engineering teams, and moving into a new, larger headquarters in NYC.
To read the full press release on Tech Crunch, click here.
About Atomico Ventures
Atomico is a growth stage international investment firm, focused on helping the world’s most disruptive technology companies scale and reach their full potential globally. Founded by Niklas Zennström, the co-founder of Skype, they have become the investor of choice for ambitious entrepreneurs due to their experience of building global companies, unique international network, and ability to help companies operationally, with offices in London, Beijing, São Paulo, Istanbul and Tokyo.
For more information about our Venture Capital & Emerging Growth practice, contact Scott Alderton at (818) 444-4501 or
The LA Times recently released a story entitled “Silicon Beach: Real or high-tech hype?” discussing the thrilling rise of the tech company market in the Southern California region. According to venture capitalist Nate Redmond of Rustic Canyon Partners, quoted in the article, “We’ve never seen a level of activity higher than it is today.” Several SAM clients, including Riot Games, are mentioned as companies that are benefitting from the growing tech market in Southern California. Also mentioned in the article is SAM client and venture capitalist Mark Suster of GRP Partners, who is actively involved in the Los Angeles venture capital market and believes that the Los Angeles area is “one of the most undiscovered tech hubs in the country.”
Stubbs Alderton and Markiles, LLP is a leading law firm in representing venture-backed companies based in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, the so-called “Silicon Beach”, and provides services to a broad spectrum of tech start-up companies in both the Southern California and San Francisco Bay areas such as Rdio, Inc., SuperGiant Games, ADLY Inc., Mogreet, Inc., Leisurelink, Inc., Illfonic LLC, and The Illusion Factory to name a few. A core focus of SAM’s practice is serving the needs of emerging growth and technology companies.
SAM also has extensive relationships with “Silicon Beach” area venture capital firms, angel investors and start-up incubators such as GRP Partners, Rustic Canyon Partners, Greycroft Partners, Clearstone Venture Partners, Mission Ventures, FocalPoint Partners, Europlay Capital Advisors, DFJ Frontier, TechCoast Angels, Pasadena Angels, and Ventura Ventures Technology Center. The Firm is a sponsor of LaunchPad LA and regularly sponsors tech events such as LA Tech Week, the E3 Expo, the Game Developers’ Conference (GDC), the CalTech/MIT Enterprise Forum, Digital Hollywood, LAVA Meet the VCs, and many others. SAM is also actively involved with the “First Wave” accelerator and fund projects of Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.
To view the December 11th Los Angeles Times’ article, click here.
For more information regarding the Venture Capital and Emerging Growth practice of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, please contact Scott Alderton at or (818) 444-4501.
For more information regarding the Internet, New Media & Entertainment practice, please contact Greg Akselrud at or (818) 444-4504.