Overview

Gloria M. Skigen is a corporate and private equity attorney who primarily advises investors in venture capital and private equity transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and provides business advice for institutional investors and multinational corporations making direct minority investments (venture and private equity) and investments in private equity and venture funds. During her career, she has handled more than 125 venture capital transactions totaling more than $2 billion.

Ms. Skigen provides legal and corporate advice to clients in a wide range of industries, including life sciences, specialty pharmaceuticals, medical devices, information technology, clean technology, energy and financial services, among others.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Ms. Skigen spent nearly a decade as general counsel to a healthcare venture capital firm, where she oversaw all legal affairs, including portfolio investments, exits, fund administration and proposed investments.

Representative Experience

  • Served as lead legal counsel to an investor syndicate in the $135 million Series E financing of a healthcare-enabling research organization; the Series E financing also included participation from a leading venture and growth equity firm and all major existing investors; proceeds were used to fund the simultaneous purchase of a research practice management and clinical services organization for clinical research sites, pharma companies, and clinical research organizations, as well as working capital
  • Representing an investor in the $80 million of financing rounds, from seed stage through initial public offering (IPO), for a stem cell therapeutics company
  • Represented an investor in the $20 million Series A investment in a mobile wayfinding app with integrated content and data management for hospitals and other healthcare institutions
  • Represented investors in $47 million of growth-stage investments and an IPO of a consumer healthcare products company
  • Represented a leading global alternative investment manager focused on private equity in the $20 million Series A financing round of a composite manufacturer utilizing continuous fiber 3D printing
  • Represented an investor syndicate in the financing of a company commercializing high-powered lasers for the oil, natural gas, geothermal and mining industries
  • Represented investors in a company that produced high-throughput matrix chips for analysis of biological samples for DNA, RNA and protein analysis, including in the sale of assets to two public companies
  • Represented an investor syndicate in late-stage financings and IPOs, including a biopharmaceutical company commercializing non-absorbed drugs to treat renal, cardiovascular, liver and metabolic diseases; a company commercializing novel and best-in-class therapeutics in the otology market; and a women's health specialty pharmaceutical company
  • Represented an investor syndicate in financings and sale transactions, including the sale of a company commercializing oral therapeutics for cholestatic liver diseases and metabolic disorders to Shire, a company developing a drug-coated percutaneous transluminal angioplasty balloon to C.R. Bard, a drug therapy company treating excess scarring to Pfizer, Inc., and a discovery-stage biotechnology company developing protein-based drugs to Roche
  • Represented investors in the sale of a leading global business information and multimedia company to a private equity group
  • Represented a voice and conversational artificial intelligence (AI) company in a $12 million Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) financing
  • Served as counsel to multinational companies with respect to an acquisition of a limited partnership interest in numerous private equity and venture funds

  • Represented a building access and security management startup in merger with a large, co-working space and software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider
  • Represented a United Kingdom-based company in an asset acquisition of a U.S. interactive smart computer terminals company
  • Represented a software and interactive development company in a merger with a digital and social media company
  • Represented a digital point-of-care media company in multiple asset acquisitions of other media companies
  • Represented a consumer products company in the $68 million sale of a majority stake to a large multinational company

  • Represented an investor in a majority investment in a financial services firm offering investment advisory and brokerage services, and spin-out and minority investment in a related bank
  • Represented a private equity firm in acquisitions of post-secondary, for-profit education companies
  • Represented a digital point-of-care media company in issuance of senior subordinated notes with warrants and preferred stock to a private equity firm, as well as senior debt financing

Credentials

Education
  • Cornell Law School, J.D., cum laude
  • University of California, Irvine, B.A., cum laude
Bar Admissions/Licenses
  • Connecticut
  • New York
Honors & Awards

News