Whether you are a start-up raising funds or a private equity firm investing in start-ups, it is worth noting that the way funds are raised will have ramifications that may materially impact how successful the start-up will be.
There are several options for companies that have bootstrapped or taken angel investment from “friends and family” and are now ready to raise funds to continue the next phase of their growth. Among these are bank loans, securities-based funding that entails giving equity, bonds or convertible notes through venture capital funding. In time, a company’s shareholders may choose to sell their stakes or allot more shares in the company.
Yuen Law seeks to understand your past, and takes steps in the present so you can reap the full rewards of your hard work or investment in the future. Whether you are taking on more funding or looking to cash out, an experienced legal team can help you get your start-up investment ready.
Our team at Yuen Law can help you get your legal basics right, and cover what investors expect to see when conducting due diligence on a target. We advise on structuring the group with future investment in mind, ensuring legal safeguards in your founders or shareholders agreements, provide for employee share awards or option programmes, and employment agreements.
We also advise on registration of proprietary intellectual property rights, and draft essential non-disclosure agreements to protect your ideas and other trade secrets. Prevention of any unauthorised disclosure of your confidential information will useful when speaking with potential investors and their transaction teams.
Having worked alongside numerous start-ups at various stages, Yuen Law is well versed with the fundraising intricacies and are keenly attuned to even the smallest points that should be covered by contracts or agreements when it comes to funding matters.
We customise legal documentation including term sheets, investment and subscription agreements, shareholders’ agreements based on your commercial interest and intentions, and facts surrounding the transaction. We advise our clients never to rely on cookie-cutter contracts, as there are nuances to every deal.
In the course of legal due diligence, our lawyers may raise red-flag issues in the deal structure or the target business before the deal is inked, and are able to advise on remedying the issues or putting in additional safeguards for our client in the transactional documents.
Our founder and Managing Director Samuel Yuen authored “Funding for Start-Ups: A Guide to Fundraising” (Marshall Cavendish, 2020). This book, gleaned from Samuel Yuen’s experiences and contemplations, provides a unique legal perspective to fundraising in Singapore. It serves as a useful guide to founders and venture capitalist on issues to keep an eye out for.
Yuen Law is renowned for our work with start-ups and emerging companies. Our firm and our practitioners are feted by SMEs and MNCs alike and accoladed by clients and industry players. Both our firm and our founding director Samuel Yuen are ranked by Chambers Asia-Pacific 2021 in the practice area of Start-ups & Emerging Companies (Band 3).
Our firm was also recognised as Singapore’s highest-rated firm to work with in Private Equity in the asialaw Client Service Excellence 2021 awards.
We have never forgotten our roots as a start-up — it is interwoven into our practice’s DNA — and we are eminently positioned to help all stakeholders in the start-up space protect and safeguard their legal rights and interests.
Yuen Law leverages on its professional experience to build legal strategies and solutions that fits your unique entrepreneurial story and vision. Contact us today for an appointment.
