Corporate Venture Capital in Startups: Management Control, Sharing Information and Technology, Exit Strategies

Mr. Kahan's corporate transactional practice focuses on venture capital and private equity investments, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures and spin-offs, public securities offerings, and corporate governance. He also regularly advises clients in strategic technology transactions, including professional service agreements, software-as-a-service agreements, sourcing agreements, transition service agreements, distribution agreements, reseller agreements, and intellectual property licensing.

Ms. Shulga represents startups and emerging growth companies, often acting as their outside general counsel and building long-lasting relationships that span the life of a company. Her services in this area include, but are not limited to, entity formation, advice and counseling regarding operations in the U.S., employment law and IP-related matters, structuring complex joint ventures and distribution agreements, and investment and exit opportunities. Further, Ms. Shulga represents her clients when they are raising capital through SAFE, convertible note, Series Seed, Series A financings, and equity crowdfunding. An important focus of her work is representing fintech startups, including those companies that operate in the blockchain space (including NFT platforms, DAOs, gaming companies, and others). For her crypto clients, she advises on the regulatory aspects of operations, issuance of digital tokens, NFTs, creation of platforms, and other aspects of operations in the Web3 space. She also advises angel investors and venture capital funds when making investments into startups. In addition, Ms. Shulga represents emerging fund managers on fund formation and setting up management and GP company structures, whether they are in the venture capital, hedge fund, or real estate fund space, including special purpose investment vehicles and Delaware series LLCs.

Mr. Taylor is a New York-based Partner who leads Cerity Partners Ventures’ Built World practice, focusing on sectors such as physical security and safety, water technology, labor management, multifamily technology, and more. Before joining Cerity Partners, he was a Managing Director at Touchdown Ventures, a pioneer of the “venture capital as a service” model that merged with Cerity Partners in 2024. Prior to that, Mr. Taylor began his venture career in roles at Laconia Capital Group and Virgil Capital, primarily focusing on early-stage investments in B2B fintech, real estate, and media startups. He spent the first three years of his career in the debt capital markets group at the Royal Bank of Scotland.