Highlights
Legal Nodes has built a virtual legal department for Finmap that has helped structure the company and prepare for two investment rounds in just 9 months.
About the company
Finmap builds cloud software that helps small and medium-size businesses manage their cash flow and finances in one place. They already have a customer base that spans 12 countries, and plan to grow in other markets worldwide.
The challenge: finding a legal partner who understands venture deals
In spring 2021, Finmap were in talks with several investors over fundraising, and they needed a reliable legal partner who could support them in the process.
The main challenges that startups face at this stage are:
- Choosing a proper company jurisdiction suitable for clients, investors and tax optimisation
- Getting documentation ready for the investor due diligence
- Ensuring everything is prepared in time without getting lost in the chaos
One of their potential investors recommended Legal Nodes (having previously used our services) to help Finmap avoid the common legal pitfalls that startups face at this stage.
Solution: a virtual legal team that is always ready to jump on new tasks
After the initial call with the Finmap team, we assembled a virtual legal team and created a legal roadmap with all the legal tasks required to achieve their fundraising goals. The team started working on those tasks that same day.
During the first 2-3 months, the virtual legal team helped Finmap to:
- Register a company in the most appropriate jurisdiction; in this case, it was a UK registered company
- Issue shares and prepare the cap table
- Transfer all the intellectual property and agreements to the new company
- Prepare for the investor due diligence and sign investor agreements
As a result, the company was able to share the required data that investors needed to see, and raise their funding on time.
The virtual legal team has also helped Finmap sign agreements with new team members and provided support on privacy-related matters during the final three months of the process, as they entered the EU market.
📚 Read more: Best practices for startup legal structuring in 2022
Raising a seed round
At the end of 2021, Finmap raised a new funding round worth $1.2m. The virtual legal team built by Legal Nodes to support Finmap has helped with every aspect of the deal:
- Ensuring the data that Finmap provided to their investors was always updated with the correct due diligence information
- Agreeing to the terms of a new investment agreement with founders, previous investors, and new investors
Ivan Kaunov, Co-founder @Finmap has said:
"The virtual legal department provided by Legal Nodes worked quickly and efficiently, which helped to manage this complex deal and make sure we met all the agreements with previous and new investors. I was impressed with the professionalism of lawyers who knew the ins and outs of venture deals and were able to predict in advance all the issues we needed to resolve."
Nestor Dubnevych of Legal Nodes says:
“A huge congratulations to Finmap on securing their seed round and continuing to grow and succeed. We are pleased to have been able to support Ivan and his team during this period and the success of the work demonstrates how effective virtual legal departments can be for startups. We thank Finmap for choosing to work with us on this project.”
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