Venture Funds Launch Group
Lowenstein Sandler’s Venture Funds Launch Group (VFL Group) provides a dedicated platform advising venture fund managers (whether established or emerging) building venture firms and raising venture funds (including accelerators, funds of funds, and other vehicles), and the limited partner (LP) investors into those funds (including institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds, nonprofits, endowments, and family offices), on all fund management, governance, operations, compliance, regulatory, transaction, tax, and other matters.
Lowenstein’s VFL Group leverages its longstanding collaboration with the firm’s Emerging Companies & Venture Capital (ECVC) Group to help venture and growth equity fund managers both raise and then (through Lowenstein’s ECVC Group) deploy venture capital. The VFL Group draws on the capabilities of Lowenstein’s Fund Regulatory & Compliance Group to help venture fund managers and their LPs and teams navigate regulatory change, compliance issues, and enforcement matters. Our VFL Group also has an enhanced understanding of how to build venture firms and funds, in part because we have also spent years on the more fractious side, stepping in when venture firm partnerships fracture, whether serving as counsel to the venture firm, the GPs, the LPs, or the LPACs.
The group's deep bench and sector experience have made Lowenstein one of only seven law firms to earn a national ranking from Chambers Global in the United States for Venture Capital: Fund Formation. Lowenstein’s Emerging Companies & Venture Capital (ECVC) Group has also earned national rankings from Chambers USA in Startups & Emerging Companies, and Lowenstein’s Investment Management & Private Funds Group, is nationally ranked by Chambers USA in both Hedge Funds and Investment Funds: Regulatory & Compliance.
The Lowenstein VFL Group lawyers who form each fund can work seamlessly with Lowenstein’s ECVC Group (who represent the fund in deploying venture investments), providing practical, business-focused advice aligned with each manager’s strategy and objectives. Our work with funds, investors, and emerging companies across technology, life sciences, and other rapidly evolving sectors, and our longstanding connections through VentureCrush, give us valuable perspective on the markets in which our clients operate.
Services include:
- Formation and structuring of funds, general partners, and management companies
- Onshore and offshore fund structures and offering documents
- Fundraising strategy and negotiations with investors
- Strategic investor, seed, and anchor investor arrangements
- Regulatory, tax, and ERISA counseling
- Management company, governance, compensation, and employment matters
- Venture capital and growth equity investments and follow-on transactions
- Special purpose and co-investment vehicles, ongoing fund operations, restructurings, and wind-downs
- Management level conflicts, including partner departures
- Employment and separation
- Investor-side reviews
- Portfolio company exits
In addition to Investment Management & Private Funds and ECVC, the VFL Group collaborates with attorneys from across Lowenstein's Tax; Executive Compensation; Employment; Intellectual Property; FinTech, Crypto, Trading & Markets; Litigation; and Regulatory practices, reflecting the multidisciplinary approach venture fund managers, investors, and portfolio companies require.
