Emerging Companies

Entrepreneurs must overcome negativity to imagine, plan and ultimately found their companies. They don't need lawyers who reflexively say "no" to the distinct legal and business problems that forming startups can present.

The experienced and innovative lawyers on Holland & Knight's Emerging Companies Team have the deep and wide-ranging experience in new ventures that is essential to craft creative solutions, meet challenges head-on and help clients navigate their businesses' life cycles.

We have advised emerging companies across industry sectors, including healthcare technology, artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrency/FinTech, ocean cleanup, fantasy sports, beverages, health and wellness, hotels, Internet of Things (IoT), carbon capture and energy storage.

We Know How to Launch and Maintain Companies

We know the conversations founders need to have to turn their ideas into thriving enterprises.

Our attorneys also know the processes that must be negotiated to help set up companies for success, legally and financially. We have a thorough understanding of what's needed for a startup's growth and maintenance, through good times and bad. And we know how to get founders to the next level, through mergers, acquisitions, IPOs, sales or other strategies.

We Help Raise Capital

No company gets started without solid funding, and our team has multiple avenues to help founders accomplish this critical task.

We assist founders in choosing the most advantageous capital structure for their businesses. Our attorneys counsel entrepreneurs on capital processes, as well as their timelines and documents – especially term sheets, which we have deep experience preparing and negotiating.

Our attorneys have conducted thousands of deals for clients to obtain financing, including angel and seed-round financings, early-, mid- and late-stage venture capital, asset-based and cash flow financing, bridge loans and other convertible debt issuances, IPOs and private investments in public equity (PIPEs).

Clients also benefit from our proprietary HK Deal Flow℠ service, which grew out of our roles as longtime trusted advisors to funds, portfolio companies, family offices, independent sponsors and other investors. We strategically match leads with our clients, friends of the firm and additional parties seeking opportunities.

Since its 2017 inception, HK Deal Flow℠ has successfully sourced more than 1,600 deals and facilitated over 2,000 introductions for program participants. The HK Deal Flow℠ team actively works with more than 350 deal intermediaries to amplify their reach to buyers and investors.

We Protect Innovation

Entrepreneurs know that innovation involves more than just having great ideas. It requires research, refinement and testing before these ideas become products, services, processes and reputation associated with new companies.

To protect these assets, we draw on the experience of our 90-lawyer Intellectual Property Group to prosecute patents and trademarks, design IP asset portfolios and set up IP licensing.

Similarly, our firm features lawyers with extensive experience in technology transfers and transactions and data security and privacy, as well as the skills to manage virtually any kind of legal challenge a company can face.

If challenges harden into conflicts, litigators from our 34 U.S. and international offices are ready to advise and advocate for clients.

We Know Maintenance and Exit Strategies

Our lawyers are invested in the success of client startups throughout their business life cycles. Given our size and reach, we have the capacity to serve any company – although when needed, we regularly consult with colleagues at other firms and vice versa. We are committed to helping clients achieve their business goals, whether it is to go public, get acquired by major investors, or achieve growth and success with their original private owners.

We Get Results

We are honored that our clients' trust in our experience and approach has led to top rankings in industry publications. They include:

• 2nd in Global Private Equity (The Deal)
• 3rd in U.S. Private Equity (PitchBook)
• 10th in Global Private Equity (Bloomberg)
• 14th in Venture Capital by Number of Rounds, Advisor to Firm (LSEG Data & Analytics, formerly Refinitiv)

We have represented numerous clients in notable matters, including:

• Main Street Health, the nation's largest value-based healthcare organization exclusively serving rural America, in connection with a $315 million financing round with investments from strategic health plan and provider partners, as well as Oak HC/FT
• KORE Power Inc., the leading U.S.-based developer of battery cell technology for the clean energy and e-mobility industries, in connection with the initial $75 million tranche of an anticipated $150 million private equity financing and in connection with a loan in the principal among of $850 million from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Loan Programs Office under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program
• American Battery Solutions, an industrial and commercial lithium-ion battery manufacturer, in connection with a $165.9 million loan from the DOE's Loan Programs Office
• Upperline Health, the nation's largest provider network dedicated to specialty value-based care, in connection with a $58.35 million funding round led by Crestline Investors, an institutional alternative investment management firm
• Clearsense, a platform as a service (PaaS) company that partners with healthcare organizations to increase data value, governance and transparency, in a $50 million Series D capital raise led by HealthQuest Capital, a growth capital firm that invests in commercial-stage companies, and joined by existing investors Health Catalyst Capital and UPMC Enterprises
• Tidelift, a provider of solutions for improving open-source software supply chain resilience, in connection with a $33.5 million Series C funding round, with investments from AE Industrial, Cisco Investments, Dorilton Ventures, Kaiser Permanente, Atlassian Ventures, General Catalyst and Foundry Group
• AdventHealth in its capital raising for new surgical centers in the Daytona Beach, Florida, market
• Blues Wireless, a hyperscale cellular IoT solutions provider, in connection with a $32 million Series A-1 financing round led by venture capital firm Positive Sum
• Green Patch Inc. (d/b/a Practice Better), a leading Canada-based all-in-one practice management software solution transforming how health and wellness professionals run their practices and support their clients, as U.S. counsel in connection with a $27 million financing round spearheaded by leading growth investor Five Elms Capital
• Pontoro, a digital asset connectivity platform that provides institutional investor access, price discovery and asset liquidity for real assets to unlock global infrastructure finance, in connection with a preferred seed funding round
• Westhill Global, a leading provider of digital solutions for the property and casualty insurance industry, in connection with a $13.5 million Series A financing round
• BehaVR, a Kentucky-based leading provider of digital mental and behavioral health services, in its cross-border merger with OxfordVR, a United Kingdom-based leader in virtual reality treatments for serious mental illnesses, as well as a simultaneous $13 million Series B financing round led by Optum Ventures and Oxford Science Enterprises
• California-based Carbon Ridge Inc., a leading developer of modular onboard carbon capture and storage solutions (OCCS) for decarbonizing the maritime industry, in connection with a $6 million funding round; the financing was led by Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment, with additional investment from Crowley, a leading U.S.-based shipping and logistics company, and Berge Bulk, one of the world's largest dry bulk owners, along with Rusheen Capital Management as well as Plug and Play Ventures
• EQ Music, a social music platform designed to empower artists and reward fans through blockchain technology, in connection with a venture capital investment from Sage Venture Partners, an evergreen venture capital fund
• Sindri, a zero-knowledge proof infrastructure platform, in connection with a $5 million seed financing round led by CoinFund, a crypto asset-focused investment firm, with participation from other notable investors, strategics and angels