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Startups & Formations

Startup Law

Axis provides extensive full-service representation of startups, early-stage companies, and VC-backed ventures.

Our focus is on pre-seed, seed-stage, and growth-oriented startups, small businesses, as well as investor-backed ventures in a wide variety of business law, transactional, and financing matters.

 

► Who We Represent

Axis represents a wide variety of startup, emerging, pre-seed, seed-stage, and venture-backed startups in numerous types of legal transactional matters and disputes.  In the startup industry, there are a number of players that are involved in taking a venture from concept into an established and profitable business:

  • Founders
  • Co-founders
  • Investors
  • Advisors
  • Investment groups
  •  Venture capitalists
  • Angel investors
  • Company management
  • Directors and Boards
  • Company officers

► Types of Startups We Represent

Having experience and industry knowledge of startups and emerging business is crucial for providing reliable legal advice. Our clients come from a range of genres spanning multiple fields and areas. We can assist clients from the following fields and backgrounds, including but not limited to the following:

  • Pre-seed stage
  • Seed-stage
  • Developmental startups
  • Emerging startups
  • Venture-backed startups
  • Mobile app startups
  • Consumer products products
  • Manufacturing startups
  • Fashion/apparel startups
  • Digital media startups
  • Green industries startups
  • Food/beverage startups
  • International startups
  • + numerous others

► Startup Practice Areas

Our startup practice areas range from providing business law and corporate advice/counsel to early-stage companies, as well as assisting with financing and securities, raising capital, and planning exits for startup founders.

Our Startups & Formations practice can assist businesses with a wide variety of common startup tasks:

   Business & Corporate Transactions

Axis assists clients with a wide variety of transactions. The most common types of securities transactions for business clients include the following:

  • Equity issuances and offerings
  • Debt offerings
  • Venture capital
  • Private placement memorandum
  • Investor financings
  • Secondary offerings
  • 144A Private Placement
  • Offering Circulars
  • Private Placements
  • Debt-based Offerings
  • Regulation S Offerings
  • Regulation D Offerings
  • Regulation A Offerings
  • Regulation A+ Offerings
  • Convertible Notes
  • Bridge Financings
  • Mezzanine Financings
  • ICOs and Cryptocurrency securities
  • Token-based issuances

 

 

     State/Federal Compliance

 Federal and state law generally requires ongoing compliance for businesses with securities issued to private or public investors. These can include working with your business to prepare registration statements and reporting obligations, including but not limited to the following:

  • Registration Statements (S1, S3, SB-2, F-20, 10, 10SB Statements)
  • Periodic Reports (10K, 10Q, 8K statements)
  • Compliance with state blue sky laws
  • Securities Act of 1933 Compliance
  • Securities Act of 1934 Compliance
  • Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance
  • Compliance with California Department of Business Oversight

 

      Tax Law and Banking Law Compliance

 We assist clients seek compliance with the myriad of tax, regulatory, and compliance laws that accompany securities filings, including but not limited to:

  • FinCEN Compliance
  • IRS Compliance
  •  Commodities Futures Trading Commission Compliance
  • Tax compliance
  • Anti-Money Laundering Compliance and Policies
  •  Money-Transmitter Business licensing
  • Money Services Business (MSB) Regulations
  • Department of Treasury Regulations
  •  U.S. Banking Laws
  • Bank Secrecy Act Compliance

     Intellectual Property & Licensing

We assist clients with a wide variety of intellectual property and licensing matters, ranging across copyright, trademark, trade secret, licensing, confidentiality, and related matters:

  • Confidentiality Agreements
  • Copyrights
  • Copyright Assignments
  • Copyright Infringement
  • Content-Licensing Agreements
  • End-User Agreement
  • Endorsement Deals
  • Intellectual Property Assignment
  • Licensing Contracts
  • Merchandising
  • Non-Disclosure Agreements
  • Privacy Policies
  • Promotional Agreements
  • Records Retention Policies
  • Software Licensing Agreements
  • Sweepstakes & Contests
  • Trademarks
  • Trademark Disputes
  • Trademark Infringement
  • Trademark Registrations
  • Web Hosting Agreements
  • Website Terms & Conditions

 

     Shareholder Rights

Axis also regularly represents shareholders, members, and other owners of companies in legal matters involving shareholder rights. These can include, but are not limited to:

  • Shareholder Inspection Rights
  • Shareholder Participation in Corporate Governance
  • Shareholder Derivative Claims
  • Breaches of Shareholder Agreements
  • Self-Dealing / Misuse of Corporate Assets
  • Minority Shareholder Freeze-Outs and Squeeze-Outs
  • Stock Broker Malpractice and Professional Negligence
  • Dealer Liability
  • Corporate Mismanagement
  • Breaches of Fiduciary Duty
  • Corporate Fraud
  • Conflict of Interest Transactions
  • Fraud
  • Investor Fraud

Read our Business FAQs

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Our FAQs answer the most common issues faced by businesses.

We have an extensive FAQ Library that covers the most common questions we get from businesses, as well as FAQs on recent changes in law affecting businesses.
Visit our Entire FAQ Library

Our Recent Projects 

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Have we counseled businesses like yours? All the time.

We have represented a variety of business clients in numerous industries across multiple disciplines and practice matters. Here are some of the highlights.

National Recognition

The talent at Axis has been recognized nationally for its legal services in a variety of publications, news outlets and other channels across the nation and internationally.

Representing Clients from 22+ Countries Internationally

Axis has represented a wide variety of business clients  in numerous deals, transactions, contracts, agreements, disputes and legal matters. For information on how we may be able to assist you, please contact [email protected].