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Pitch Day San Francisco

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Morrison Foerster was pleased to host a Pitch Day event in its San Francisco office on May 29, 2024. The program featured a select group of companies who pitched to a panel of venture capitalists in front of a live audience.

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Morrison Foerster was pleased to host a Pitch Day event in its San Francisco office on May 29, 2024. The program featured a select group of companies who pitched to a panel of venture capitalists in front of a live audience.We were pleased to showcase the following companies as part of our program:<ul><li>MisTee Wants to Know, manufacturer of the MisTee PRO Handheld Steaming Tool for detangling hair.</li><li>Ogre.run, a company that automates the generation of dependency files necessary to run code anywhere.</li><li>OVE Touch & Go, developer of a fingerprint payment system that integrates with existing POS platforms.</li><li>Rehydrate, a company building water recovery technologies to enhance water access across the world.</li><li>Rely, a peer-to-peer marketplace for renters and small landlords to search, connect, and apply for long-term rentals.</li><li>Verve Market, a hyper-personalized nutrition platform for planning, finding, and shopping safe and healthy.</li></ul>Thank you to everyone who joined us for this program. We look forward to hosting another session soon.If you are interested in joining us for future programming, you may email <a href="mailto:ECVCevents@mofo.com">ECVCevents@mofo.com</a> for more information and to be added to our mailing list.<hr>

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Michael Glaser is a partner in both the San Francisco and Seattle offices. He serves as Co-Head of the Emerging Companies + Venture Capital Practice and is the Seattle Office Managing Partner. Described as “one of the finest venture capital lawyers I have ever worked with” by a client in Chambers USA, Michael brings more than two decades of experience advising entrepreneurs and investors in starting and scaling technology companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. With the 2026 launch of Morrison Foerster’s Seattle office, Michael splits his time between the two regions. Michael represents startups from formation through exit across a wide range of industries, including consumer e-commerce, artificial intelligence, interactive entertainment, digital media, consumer products, sharing economy, cloud services, enterprise software, fintech, and digital health. His work spans the full lifecycle of a company, from early architectural decisions through growth financing, strategic partnerships, and liquidity events, allowing him to advise clients with a systems-level perspective on risk, governance, and long-term value creation. He has represented startups in hundreds of venture capital transactions with pre-money valuations ranging from the millions to the billions, and his clients have been backed by leading venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital, Greylock, Benchmark, Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, and Khosla Ventures. Michael also advises companies in mergers and acquisitions, including numerous high-value exits with repeat acquirers across the technology sector. In addition to client work, Michael is an active industry thought leader. He has served on the Model Document Working Group of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), the Corporate Committee of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California, and the ABA Working Group on Legal Opinions. Michael helped Standard Capital in developing their unique closing process and streamlined financing agreements. He also brings significant management experience to his role at the firm. Prior to joining Morrison Foerster, Michael co-chaired another international law firm’s largest practice group, overseeing ten subgroups, more than 300 lawyers, and a practice with a P&L in the hundreds of millions. Michael serves as a trustee for two independent schools in the Bay Area and sits on the board of the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Michael is consistently recognized by leading legal publications, including Chambers USA, The Legal 500, Best Lawyers in America, and Martindale-Hubbell, where he is rated AV Preeminent®. <h4>Selected Exit Transactions </h4><ul><li>Represented AddLive in its sale to Snap (NYSE: SNAP). </li><li>Represented Applifier in its sale to Unity Technologies (NYSE: U). </li><li>Represented Amino Health in its sale to Judi Health / Capital Rx. </li><li>Represented Candywriter in its sale to Stillfront Group. </li><li>Represented Cloudup in its sale to Automattic. </li><li>Represented CourseRank in a merger with Chegg (NYSE: CHGG). </li><li>Represented Fictiv in its sale to MISUMI Group. </li><li>Represented Freeverse Inc. in its sale to ngmco. </li><li>Represented GlobalMotion Media Inc. (publisher of EveryTrail.com) in its sale to Trip Advisor (Nasdaq: TRIP). </li><li>Represented Hackpad in its sale to Dropbox (Nasdaq: DBX). </li><li>Represented Jambool in a merger transaction with Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG). </li></ul><ul><li>Represented Liquid Audio (Nasdaq:LQID) in its sale of technology assets to Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT). </li><li>Represented Originator in its sale to Spin Master (TSX:TOY). </li><li>Represented PullString in its sale to Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL). </li><li>Represented Rupture.com in an acquisition by Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS). </li><li>Represented Snapcentric in its sale to Verisign (Nasdaq:VRSN). </li><li>Represented TenMarks in its sale to Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN). </li><li>Represented Wondery in its sale to Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN).</li></ul>

Michael Glaser

Co-Head of Emerging Companies + Venture Capital Practice

Murray Indick is a corporate partner in the Emerging Companies + Venture Capital Group.Murray represents fast-growing innovative businesses, catering to a diverse range of clients that span from visionary entrepreneurs to well‑established companies in later stages of development. With almost forty years of experience in corporate law, investment funds, and related fields, Murray has garnered extensive expertise through private practice as well as his roles as partner and general counsel to Blum Capital Partners (1997 – 2004) and partner and general counsel to Prides Capital Partners (2004 – 2010). Throughout his tenure with these firms, which collectively raised and deployed approximately $6 billion, Murray successfully made strategic investments across the globe.In recognition of his exceptional client service, Murray was honored as one of only twelve attorneys from the Bay Area named to BTI Consulting Group’s prestigious list of “Client Service All-Stars” in 2015. Notably, he has also been consistently recognized by Chambers USA and Legal 500 as a leading national lawyer in the field of Startups and Emerging Companies. Legal 500 US has also acknowledged Murray’s exceptional capabilities in M&A/Corporate work since 2017.Murray’s transactional experience encompasses a broad spectrum of corporate matters, including venture financings, acquisitions, mergers, fund formation, PIPE investments, corporate restructurings, corporate governance, and compliance programs. His clients, regardless of their size, rely on his ability to provide practical, innovative, and insightful advice to navigate legal challenges and pivotal transactions successfully.A substantial portion of Murray’s practice is dedicated to the formation of investment funds, with a particular focus on venture capital funds. He consistently provides transactional and advisory services to these funds, often serving as their trusted outside general counsel.Murray routinely collaborates closely with senior management teams and board of directors of various businesses. He brings valuable expertise to the table, having previously served on corporate boards of esteemed public companies. He also actively contributes his insights as a board member to start-up companies and private businesses, leveraging his extensive experience in this capacity.In 2014, Murray took on the role of outside counsel for the Los Angeles Clippers, supporting the team during the transitional period after the NBA suspended their owner, Donald Sterling. His expertise played a crucial role in facilitating the smooth transition to new ownership. Murray attained his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree with honors, magna cum laude, in 1984 from Georgetown University Law Center and his undergraduate degree in 1981 from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied history and English and graduated magna cum laude. Following law school, Murray clerked for Judge Walter E. Black, Jr., in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Maryland.

Murray Indick

Partner

Jim Krenn is a corporate partner and chair of the firm’s Emerging Companies + Venture Capital Group.Jim has comprehensive experience representing emerging, growth-stage, and public companies, as well as angel, corporate, and institutional investors, in strategic transactions and corporate matters throughout the company lifecycle, from formation and early-stage financings through liquidity events and public company operations. Jim’s practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, financings, and general corporate counseling, with a particular emphasis on life science and technology companies. He regularly advises boards of directors, executive teams, and investors on complex transactional matters, capital-raising activities, and corporate governance issues.In his mergers and acquisitions practice, Jim represents buyers and sellers in domestic and cross-border transactions across a wide range of structures, including mergers, stock and asset purchases, divestitures, joint ventures, and competitive sale processes. He has represented clients in acquisitions and sales ranging from the low millions to transactions exceeding $1 billion, for both private and public companies.Jim also counsels venture-backed and growth-stage companies in equity financings and ongoing corporate matters, and advises leading angel, corporate, and venture capital investors in their investments in such companies. He has represented clients in hundreds of venture capital and growth equity financings, from seed and early-stage rounds through $100 million-plus later-stage rounds.In addition, Jim represents public companies in initial public offerings, other capital markets transactions, and SEC reporting and compliance matters, and advises boards of directors on corporate governance issues. Jim is a member of the firm’s Life Sciences + Healthcare Group leadership team and Artificial Intelligence steering committee. He is actively involved in the startup and venture capital ecosystem, including  serving on the Board of Directors of the San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange.<h4>Representative Transactions</h4><h5>Mergers and Acquisitions</h5><ul><li>ACEA Biosciences, a medical instruments company, in its sale to Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) for $250 million.</li><li>Adicet Bio (Nasdaq: ACET), a biopharmaceutical company, in its merger with a wholly owned subsidiary of resTORbio (Nasdaq: TORC) to create a combined publicly traded biotechnology company.</li><li>Alaska Energy & Resources Company, a parent company of a regulated electric utility in Alaska, in its $170 million sale to Avista (NYSE: AVA).</li><li>Astute Medical, a medical diagnostic company, in its $90 million sale to bioMérieux (EPA: BIM).</li><li>B. Riley Financial (Nasdaq: RILY), a diversified financial services company, in its $53 million private placement and merger with investment banking firm B. Riley & Co.</li><li>Biotix, a private equity-backed developer and manufacturer of laboratory consumables and liquid handling solutions, in its sale to Mettler-Toledo (NYSE: MTD).</li><li>California Cryobank, a private equity-backed leader in reproductive tissue donor services and stem cell banking, in multiple acquisitions.</li><li>Clean Energy Fuels (Nasdaq: CLNE), a provider of natural gas as an alternative fuel for vehicle fleets, in its sale for up to $180 million of components of its renewable natural gas business to BP (NYSE: BP).</li><li>Cogent (Nasdaq: COGT), a biometric identification solutions provider, in its $943 million sale to 3M (NYSE: MMM).</li><li>Deere & Company (NYSE: DE), an agricultural, construction, and forestry machinery corporation, in its planned acquisition of the precision planting unit of Monsanto (NYSE: MON).</li><li>Dosatron International, a distributor of water-powered dosing pumps and systems, in connection with its sale to Ingersoll Rand (NYSE:IR).</li><li>Gillco, a leading specialty ingredient provider, in its sale to Azelis (BR: AZE).</li><li>Mentor (NYSE: MNT), a leading supplier of medical products for the global aesthetic market, in its $1.12 billion sale to Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).</li><li>Mitchell International, a developer of smart technology solutions, in its acquisition of Cogent Works.</li><li>MyChem, a provider of ultra-pure nucleotides, in connection with its sale to Maravai (NASDAQ: MRVI) for $240 million at closing with potential additional consideration.</li><li>Protomer Technologies, a biotechnology company, in its sale to Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) with a potential value of over $1 billion with successful achievement of future development and commercial milestones.</li><li>Rakuten Medical, a biotechnology and medical device company, in its acquisition of Medlight SA and its acquisition of key assets and manufacturing technology from Li-Cor Biosciences.</li><li>Safebuilt Insurance Services, a managing general agent and insurance technology company, in its sale to Integrated Specialty Coverages.</li><li>Sequlite Genomics, a DNA sequencing firm, in connection with its sale to Fapon Biotech, a diagnostic technology company.</li><li>Tendo, a digital health software company, in its acquisition of MDsave, a healthcare marketplace company.</li><li>Wavestream, a provider of high-power solid-state amplifiers, in its $137 million sale to Spacenet, a subsidiary of Gilat Satellite Networks (Nasdaq: GILT).</li></ul><h5>Equity Financings</h5><ul><li>9amHealth, a provider of virtual diabetes care, in its $4 million Series Seed financing and $16 million Series A financing.</li><li>ACEA Biosciences, a developer of cell analysis instrumentation technologies, in its $30 million Series E Preferred Stock financing.</li><li>Adicet Bio, a biopharmaceutical company, in its Series A financing of up to $51 million, and $80 million Series B financing.</li><li>Astute Medical, a medical diagnostic company focused on high-risk medical conditions and diseases, in over $200 million of equity and debt financings.</li><li>Bidra as an investor in multiple equity financings.</li><li>Biolumic, an agtech company, in its $13.5 million Series B financing.</li><li>California Cryobank, a private equity-backed leader in reproductive tissue donor services and stem cell banking, in multiple equity and debt financings.</li><li>Carlsmed, a medtech company pioneering AI-enabled personalized spine surgery solutions, in its $10 million Series A financing, $30 million Series B financing, $64.5 million Series C financing and $100.5 million initial public offering.</li><li>Corner Therapeutics, a biotech company, in its $54 million Series A financing.</li><li>Crinetics (Nasdaq:CRNX) as a strategic investor in Radionetics Oncology’s $52.5 million Series A financing.</li><li>Crinetics(Nasdaq:CRNX) in its $350 million PIPE financing, at-the-marketing offering of up to $350 million, $575 million underwritten public offering and $350 million underwritten public offering.</li><li>Forward Ventures as an investor in multiple equity financings, convertible debt financings, and M&A transactions.</li><li>Foxen, a provider of financial technology solutions for the real estate industry, in its $44 million Series A financing.</li><li>Greenoaks Capital Partners and its affiliates as investors in multiple equity financings, debt financings, and secondary transactions.</li><li>GroupSolver, an artificial intelligence market research platform, in multiple preferred stock financings.</li><li>Hume.ai, an artificial intelligence company, in multiple preferred stock financings.</li><li>Oak Investment Partners as an investor in multiple preferred stock financings.</li><li>OrbiMed as an investor in multiple equity financings, debt financings, and M&A transactions.</li><li>Petuum, an artificial intelligence and machine learning software infrastructure provider, in its $93 million Series B financing.</li><li>Pi Health, an AI-enabled health technology and clinical research company, in its spin-out from BeiGene, Ltd. and $35 million Series A financing.</li><li>Perceptive Advisors as an investor in multiple financings and transactions.</li><li>Presight Capital as an investor in multiple equity financings.</li><li>RA Capital as an investor in multiple equity financings.</li><li>Rakuten Medical, a biotechnology and medical device company, in over $800 million of debt and equity financings.</li><li>Rubi Laboratories, a company focused on converting carbon emissions into textiles, in multiple equity financings.</li><li>Softbank affiliates as investors in multiple equity financings.</li><li>Solarflare Communications, a technology company, in over $200 million of equity and debt financings.</li><li>Tendo Systems, a HealthTech software company, in its $20 million financing from Vistara.</li><li>Tutor Intelligence, an artificial intelligence robotics company, in its $34 million Series A financing.</li><li>VoloAgri, an ag-tech company, in over $150 million of equity financings.</li><li>Western Digital Capital as an investor in multiple preferred stock financings.</li></ul>

Jim Krenn

Chair of Emerging Companies + Venture Capital Practice

Chris represents venture capital investors, private equity firms, and emerging and established companies in corporate finance matters, including investments, mergers and acquisitions, take-privates, joint ventures, and other strategic transactions.Chris is recognized as a top-tier advisor in the technology sector. Recent awards for his work and teams include recognition as Dealmakers of the Year by The American Lawyer and Most Innovative Lawyers in Science and Technology by Financial Times, among other Rising Star/Top 40 Under 40 honors by Venture Capital Journal, Daily Journal, and San Francisco Business Times.Chris has significant experience advising on complex deals involving high-growth, venture-backed companies in the technology industry. He regularly advises on capital-raising transactions, investment fund transactions, buyouts, and divestitures for startups and private equity sponsors.Before rejoining Morrison Foerster, Chris was a battle-tested dealmaker at a global investment firm, where he acted as lead negotiator on cross-border investment and M&A transactions. Leveraging that experience, Chris provides clients with creative, business-forward, and solutions-oriented advice.Chris serves on the leadership committee of the ABA’s Private Equity and Venture Capital Committee and is a frequent author and speaker on investment- and M&A-related topics and trends. At NYU School of Law, Chris was a Lederman Fellow in Law & Economics and on the executive board of the NYU Journal of Law & Business. He majored in business economics as an undergraduate at University of California, Santa Barbara.

Christopher McKinnon

Jim Ryan is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Emerging Company + Venture Capital Group based in Palo Alto. He advises high-growth technology and life sciences companies, venture capital and growth funds, and corporate venture capital and other strategic investors.Jim’s work includes navigating domestic and cross-border venture capital and growth financings, secondaries and tender offers, recapitalizations, joint ventures, carve-outs and spinoffs, and mergers and acquisitions. He has particular experience in large complex financings and has advised companies and investors on dozens of venture capital and growth financings in which $100 million to over $1 billion were raised along with dozens more in the $25 million to $100 million range.His clients span a variety of technologies and industries including artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous and other software-defined vehicles, industrial tech, cloud computing and data center hardware and software, fintech and digital assets, SaaS, biotech, and medical devices.Beyond transactions, Jim writes and speaks on practical issues that shape venture capital-backed companies and boardrooms. He serves as the startup columnist for The Journal of Robotics, Artificial Intelligence & Law and is the lead editor of MoFo’s “<a href="https://scaleup.mofo.com/guidance">Ask a MoFo</a>” series, where he translates board governance, deal mechanics, and venture structures into actionable guidance for founders and investors.Jim was recognized as a 2026 Rising Star by Venture Capital Journal.He earned his J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law, where he served on the Santa Clara Law Review and published articles on cloud computing regulation. He received a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Jim Ryan

Alfredo Silva is a key member of the firm’s Social Enterprise + Impact Investing Group and the Emerging Companies + Venture Capital practice. He advises companies and investors—particularly in life sciences, agtech, and fintech—on a wide range of corporate and securities matters, with a strong focus on venture capital, growth equity and corporate venture capital financings. Alfredo brings particular expertise in complex restructuring and recapitalization transactions. He also advises both impact-first and return-first investors on building mission lock into their strategies, works with clients to form Delaware public benefit corporations and structure for-profit/non-profit “hybrid” entities that can attract both philanthropic and traditional capital, and on a pro bono basis advises nonprofits and small businesses on formation, structuring and governance matters.In his private company practice, Mr. Silva has served as company or investor counsel in early- and late-stage financings, minority strategic investments and impact investments in over a hundred private companies, including representation of SoftBank and SoftBank Vision Fund in financings with a combined value of over $2 billion, Temasek in its $800 million minority investment in Verily Life Sciences, an Alphabet company, and Visa Ventures in strategic fintech investments around the world.In his public company practice, Alfredo counsels issuers on strategic transactions, such as the stock-for-stock merger of Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. with Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp, as well as corporate governance and compliance with the U.S. federal securities laws and stock exchange listing standards, including advising on cutting-edge issues with respect to ESG disclosures and materiality assessments.In addition, Mr. Silva works extensively with nonprofit organizations, providing advice on fiduciary issues, entity formation, structuring and other corporate matters, and assists small businesses pro bono. He incorporated and continues to advise Illuminate, the nonprofit producer of The Bay Lights, a 25,000 LED sculpture on the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, in structuring, corporate governance, and project management matters. Mr. Silva currently chairs the audit committees of the boards of directors of Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, a nonprofit founded by three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry and The New York Times bestselling author Ayesha Curry to unleash the potential of every child, and San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which for nearly 30 years has been pursuing a future where health justice is achieved for all people living with or at risk for HIV, both of which Mr. Silva has previously advised as corporate counsel.Alfredo is recognized by The Recorder as a 2013 Lawyer on the Fast Track, in 2014 was the inaugural recipient of the firm’s Kathi Pugh Award for Pro Bono Service, is a 2017 Lawyers Committee for Legal Diversity Fellow, and was the recipient of the American Bar Association’s 2023 National Public Service Award.

Pitch Day San Francisco

29 May 2024 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM PDT