DLA Piper Expands Venture Pipeline Services and Website, Fostering Development of Start-Up Technology Companies

Venture Pipeline Offers Start-Ups ‘Garage to Global’ Services Including Access to Capital

EAST PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As further testament to the global firm’s commitment to the emerging growth and venture capital market, DLA Piper announced today the expansion of their Venture Pipeline service and online resource center for entrepreneurs. The Venture Pipeline service helps early-stage technology clients with venture capital funding, as well as operational, business and legal advice and support needed to grow their companies.

“Over nearly a decade, the Venture Pipeline Group has been extremely successful in assisting both early stage technology companies and venture capitalists”

“Over nearly a decade, the Venture Pipeline Group has been extremely successful in assisting both early stage technology companies and venture capitalists,” said Paul Hurdlow, Co-Chair, Emerging Growth and Venture Capital Practice at DLA Piper. “As our firm has continued to expand globally, we have continued to grow our start-up practice, because we see the emerging growth technology market as core to our success as a firm. We believe in growing companies, and we are committed to helping high quality start-ups to quickly get off the ground and grow.”

With the expansion of the Venture Pipeline website and service (www.venturepipeline.com) the group now has one of the most robust resources on the web for entrepreneurs and early-stage companies. Among the new additions to the site is the Document Factory™, a tool that provides entrepreneurs with the ability to create their own basic legal documents, including a Sample Offer Letters, Employee Proprietary Information and Inventions Agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements, Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreements, Confidential Materials Release Forms, and Consulting Agreements.

One of the keys to the Venture Pipeline’s success is the group’s record in the marketplace. Now in its tenth year of operations, the team helps manage the firm’s relationship with more than 450 venture funds across the country. Those venture capital firms get high quality deals, sourced from a team that is very knowledgeable on the market factors VCs care about.

“There is no better firm out there than DLA Piper when it comes to helping companies raise capital, and getting companies in the venture capitalists’ door,” says Mark Suster, a partner at GRP Partners venture fund.

“We know that when a potential deal is introduced to us by the DLA Piper Venture Pipeline folks, the company has been well coached and vetted with our specific criteria in mind. They really make the process much more efficient for all involved,” added Charles Curran, a general partner at Valhalla Partners.

Venture Pipeline is a distinct business unit within the global law firm DLA Piper, specifically focused on enhancing the funding prospects of early stage ventures. Venture Pipeline is led by business professionals with experience in technology, start-ups and capital markets, and actively advises on strategic business issues that are critical to funding. The Venture Pipeline service includes analysis of a company’s business plan, introductions to and targeting of venture capital funds, support in negotiating and structuring term sheets, as well as legal and strategic advice on company organization and operation.

The new Venture Pipeline website provides robust information and resources to the entrepreneurial and venture communities. The platform includes an online database of venture funds and profiles on their funding criteria and preferences, as well as a database of recent and historic company valuations so that companies can more accurately gauge the value of their business. The service is free to clients of the firm.

“Few relationships have paid as many dividends as the one we struck with DLA Piper and their Venture Pipeline group,” added Jon Jackson, CEO and Founder of MobilePosse. They took the time to get to know our business. And based upon that, helped us identify, and introduced us to, investors that were a good match. You don’t get that kind of value from other firms.”

The Emerging Growth and Venture Capital group at DLA Piper represents companies and investors in venture financing and private equity transactions, and is among the industry’s most experienced venture capital groups. Last year, DLA Piper ranked number three in the world and number two in the US for total Private Equity and Venture Capital deal volume, according to Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst. Over the past four years, DLA Piper has represented clients in more than 2,000 venture capital transactions, totaling over $20 billion in value.

For further information on Venture Pipeline on the Emerging Growth and Venture Capital practice at DLA Piper, contact [e-mail]. For a preview of the Venture Pipeline online platform, visit www.venturepipeline.com.

About DLA Piper (www.dlapiper.com)

DLA Piper has 3,500 lawyers in 29 countries and 67 offices throughout the US, UK, Continental Europe, Middle East and Asia. In certain jurisdictions, this information may be considered attorney advertising.