Venture Capital and emerging companies
Content
The specialist Venture Capital team at Hill Dickinson provides practical and targeted advice on fundraises for fast-growing companies, as well as a full offering of all other related legal services. Whether it be a Pre-Seed, Series A or Series E round, we will manage the legal aspects of the raise efficiently and diligently to ensure that the transaction is successful. We understand what’s important to the various stakeholders and are well-aware of the commercial intricacies involved.
We work closely with our specialist Private Equity team, which enables us to be perfectly placed to also advise on “later stage” rounds of investment all the way through to exit. Our vastly experienced team has successfully advised on transactions such as Insider North-West Dealmakers Awards’ ‘Deal of the Year’ 2021 in the £10 million to £50 million category, being the Private Equity Investment by LDC into vehicle accessory manufacturer, Rhino.
We have established and preserve strong client relationships and our team boasts a commercial and pragmatic approach to the risks and rewards involved in a particular investment. We have strong links with venture capital investors and private equity funds which can help furnish opportunities and introductions for businesses seeking growth capital, regardless of their state of growth.
As a firm, we are recognised in many sectors as being leaders in our field, with a particularly strong track record in technology, life sciences and healthcare. We have more than 150 lawyers in our Healthcare team and are leaders in sub-sectors such as medicinal cannabis and psychedelics. We have close relationships with entrepreneurs, start-ups, universities (often acting in relation to their spin-outs), advisers and other stakeholders.
We are a full service firm that clients can trust to look after all of their legal needs as they grow and we are conscious of costs needing to be appropriate for the particular stage of growth. Whether it’s a funding round, the protection of intellectual property, taking on and incentivising staff or selling/listing a business, our specialist, experienced teams provide advice that will ensure it is a success. They know what is “market” and how clients can manage risk appropriately. They don’t sit on the fence when giving advice and consider themselves to be on the same journey, alongside their clients.
We know that the end game is usually a sale or a listing, but that many unexpected events can happen along the way. Our Private Client team can ensure that your personal and family risks are covered off as best they can be so that you can concentrate on growing the business with peace of mind.
-
How our team will work with you
Our Venture Capital team, with the support of other teams in the firm, regularly advises on:
- Investment rounds, from Pre-Seed onwards – please refer to some examples set out in the “Experience” section below
- Incubator / Accelerator terms – for example, we have worked closely with companies on the TheHill accelerator which is an accelerator set up in partnership with Oxford University Hospitals
- Founder / shareholder agreements
- Confirmatory intellectual property assignments (IP) and other advice in relation to the transfer of IP from founders to the startup company
- Licensing of IP
- Data protection (particularly in a health sector context where sensitive personal data is often at stake)
- On-boarding and incentivising staff
-
Our clients
We have experience acting for investors and investee companies with regards to venture capital transactions.
Our clients include:
- start ups
- entrepreneurs
- high growth businesses
- business angels
- venture capital investors
-
Our experience
Matters which our Venture Capital team has successfully advised on include:
- Advising the lead investor on an £8.75m investment into Causeway Therapeutics, a University of Glasgow spin-out specialising in tendon disease, to advance the development of microRNA therapeutics.
- Tactus Group - The team advised a global leader in consumer technology products – Tactus Group – on their securing of £40 million from Chrysalis Investments
- Hilltop Leaf - We advised Hilltop Leaf on a fundraise which exceeded its target of £2 million from investors including Traditum Private Equity. The company is Scotland’s first medicinal cannabis farm.
- Arete Capital Partners - We acted for Arete on a £1 million second investment into digital scale-up platform, Vivify. It followed an initial investment Arete made in the company in 2021 to help support initial growth.
- Oxford Technology - The team advised Venture capital trust Oxford Technology 2 Venture Capital Trust plc (OT2) on merging with three other VCTs and launching a new offer for subscription on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange as a single enlarged VCT
- Maven Capital - Acting on the $8.3 million co-investment with Octopus Ventures in fintech business Delio Ltd. Delio was backed by Maven early on, and has raised more than $15.5 million.
- Acting for Maven and NVM in respect of the £7 million , investment round in Mojo Mortgages, a Cheshire based digital mortgage broker.
- Mina Digital - We advised the Sheffield-based electric vehicle (EV) tech business, Mina Digital Ltd, on follow-on investment by US giant Fleetcor. The deal follows an initial seed funding investment in the company by Fleetcor, a global leader in business payment including payment cards and e-payables, in April 2021.
- Praetura Ventures - Acting for venture capital company Praetura Ventures on an investment in SteamaCo, a UK-based smart metering technology supplier to utilities in Africa and Asia. The US $5 million Series B refinancing deal, which Praetura co-led with global energy company, Shell, is supporting SteamaCo’s continued technology development and growth, enabling reliable electricity services for hundreds of thousands of people across 10 underdeveloped countries.
- Bellevie Care - We advised BelleVie Care, a fast-growing provider of in-home care services, on a £2.15 million fundraise.
Key contacts
