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MoFo Advises Button Labs on $5.1 Million Seed Funding Round

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Morrison Foerster advised Button Labs, a blockchain services provider, on its $5.1 million seed funding round led by Blockchain...

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Morrison Foerster advised Button Labs, a blockchain services provider, on its $5.1 million seed funding round led by Blockchain Capital. Participants in the funding round included Coinbase, Auros, FalconX, CitizenX, Flowdesk, and other notable angel investors. Button is building Bitcoin's prime brokerage, bringing credit, yield and trading infrastructure powered by Hyperliquid.The MoFo team advising Button Labs was led by partner William Wilson and associates Elizabeth Bick and Maxwell Rich. The wider team included executive compensation + benefits partner Joshua Lerner, corporate partner Alfredo Silva, and data, cyber + privacy partner Boris Segalis.

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William Wilson is a partner in the Technology Transactions Group in the New York office of Morrison Foerster.William provides guidance to startups, major corporations, and venture capital and private equity investors. His practice spans business and technology transactions, including counseling, as well as structuring and negotiating deals across various industries, with a specialized emphasis on the Fintech, software, and technology sectors.William provides legal representation across the entirety of a company’s lifecycle, from general corporate and IP counseling, to early- and late-stage financings, to exit event. As an active participant in the venture ecosystem, William is involved with various startup accelerators and incubators, including MIT Delta V, NYU Endless Frontier Labs, and Spark Cleantech Accelerator.William’s practice covers all aspects of technology and intellectual property counseling, including strategic licensing, artificial intelligence, technology transactions, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and intellectual property strategy and protection. He also has substantial experience in intellectual property and commercial matters related to strategic mergers, acquisitions, and corporate divestitures.William has served as a guest lecturer at numerous institutions, such as Columbia University, Brown University, New York University, Washington University in St. Louis, and University of Tennessee. His lectures span topics from technology transactions and venture capital to artificial intelligence and startup matters.William is recognized as a Recommended Lawyer for Patent Licensing by The Legal 500 United States. The publication highlighted his profound understanding of both legal and technical matters, with clients noting that he has “deep knowledge of the issues, both legal and technical and is able to clearly advise and support both the legal and business teams,” and commending his “relaxed and collaborative negotiation style that promotes resolution of issues, which is a very helpful skill when dealing with a difficult counterparty.”

William Wilson

Partner

Elizabeth Bick is an associate in Morrison Foerster’s San Francisco office and a member of the firm’s Transactions Department.Before joining Morrison Foerster, Elizabeth was a summer associate in the San Francisco office. She also spent time as a student attorney for Duke’s Start-Up Ventures Clinic and as a judicial intern for the Honorable Walter P. Schwarm.Elizabeth earned her J.D. and L.L.M. in Law & Entrepreneurship at Duke University School of Law. While at Duke, she served as a staff editor on Law and Contemporary Problems. She received her B.A. magna cum laude from Colgate University, where she majored in English and French.

Elizabeth Bick

Associate

Maxwell Rich is an associate in the New York office of Morrison Foerster, and a member of the firm’s Emerging Companies + Venture Capital Group.Maxwell represents clients across a wide range of corporate matters, including general corporate, financings, transactional, regulatory securities matters, and mergers and acquisitions. His representation of operating companies and investment vehicles spans the entire corporate life-cycle, from formation to exit across multiple industries.Prior to joining the firm, Maxwell served as a Deputy General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at a venture-backed financial services unicorn. While at the company, he was responsible for company-wide legal operations, legal strategy, and compliance, serving as the chief compliance officer of a FINRA-member and a registered investment adviser, respectively, during his tenure. He acted as a regulatory liaison and advocate for the company’s various regulated entities; and managed corporate structure and supervised growth of the business, including leading acquisitions and spinouts, both foreign and domestic.Maxwell has a strong commitment to giving back to his community and industry. Max volunteers as a traveling expert for the State Department-backed Financial Services Volunteer Corps, a non-profit whose mission is to build sound banking and financial systems in developing and transition countries seeking to develop market-oriented economies. During intersessions at Georgetown University School of Law, Maxwell is an adjunct, teaching “Formation to Exit – Capital Formation for Startups. Max is also an adviser for The Association of Online Investment Platforms ("AOIP"), and organization that champions expanding investment opportunities in private companies to the general public, advocates for the responsible growth of private investment platforms, and educates the investors, legislators and regulators about the private markets in a transparent, honest manner.Maxwell earned his J.D., with honors, from Boston University School of Law, and holds a B.A., summa cum laude, from Drew University.

Maxwell Rich

Josh Lerner is a partner in the Executive Compensation + Benefits Group based in the New York office of Morrison Foerster.Josh advises clients on all matters involving the compensation of senior executives, including employment, change in control, equity compensation, and severance arrangements.He counsels public and private companies on executive compensation issues in a range of corporate transactions, restructurings, and financings. He has experience designing, drafting, and negotiating employment agreements and administering equity incentive plans and awards. He also works regularly with public companies on compensation-related disclosures and corporate governance matters, including Securities Exchange Act of 1934 reports. Josh earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School where he was a senior articles editor of the Columbia Business Law Review.<h4>Representative Matters</h4><ul><li>Snow Software, a technology intelligence platform, on its acquisition by Flexera Software, a data-oriented SaaS solution company.</li><li>U.S. Silica Holdings, a global industrial minerals and logistics leader, in its $1.85 billion sale to entities affiliated with Apollo Global Management.</li><li>Rivian Automotive in the formation of an equally controlled and owned joint venture with Volkswagen Group to create next generation software-defined vehicle (SDV) platforms to be used in both companies’ future electric vehicles.</li><li>Palladium Equity Partners, in the $695 million sale of its majority interest in Trachte, a leading provider of highly engineered protection and control buildings with mission critical applications, to nVent Electric plc, a leading global provider of electrical connection and protection solutions.</li><li>The rock band KISS and its co-founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley in the sale of substantially all rights related to KISS to Pophouse Entertainment.</li><li>McGrath RentCorp, leading provider of temporary and permanent space solutions, in its $3.8 billion acquisition by WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp., a leader in innovative temporary space solutions.</li><li>Astellas Pharma in its acquisition of Propella Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company that combines medicinal chemistry with lymphatic targeting to create new oncology drugs.</li><li>SoftBank in connection with its $375 million acquisition of Berkshire Grey, a robotic automation company that went public via a SPAC merger in 2021.</li></ul><ul><li>Grant Thornton, one of America’s largest audit, tax, and advisory firms, in the sale of its Public Sector Advisory practice to Guidehouse, a portfolio company of Veritas Capital and leading global provider of consulting services to the public sector and commercial markets.</li><li>MTY Food Group, a leading franchisor in the North American restaurant industry, in its $200 million acquisition of BBQ Holdings, a franchisor and operator of fast casual dining.</li><li>Odevo AB, a Swedish company and a portfolio company of private equity client Fidelio Capital, in connection with its acquisition of KW Property Management & Consulting, LLC, a Florida-based company that provides property management services to homeowner associations, condominium boards, cooperative boards and townhome communities. </li><li>Tinicum and its portfolio company TSL Engineered Products in the sale of Advantek, a leading provider of highly engineered carrier tape and associated protective packaging products, to Cornell Capital.</li></ul>

Joshua Lerner

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.

Alfredo B. D. Silva

Boris Segalis is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Data, Cyber + Privacy Group. For over a dozen years, he has counseled clients on privacy and cybersecurity issues in the context of strategic product advice, corporate transactions, and regulatory investigations.Boris regularly advises clients on the development and implementation of data-driven products and services, on global privacy and cybersecurity compliance, and on handling cyber incidents affecting companies and users globally. Boris also regularly defends companies in U.S. federal, state, and global privacy and cybersecurity investigations, including representing clients in front of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the New York and California attorneys general, and foreign regulators.Boris’s practice focuses on advising clients on the requirements of a variety of U.S. privacy and cybersecurity laws, including the California Privacy Rights Act (CCPA/CPRA) and other U.S. state privacy laws; state cybersecurity requirements such as the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS)’s Cybersecurity Regulation; the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA); the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA); CAN-SPAM; NIST’s Cybersecurity Framework (CFS); the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA); and the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). Boris regularly advises financial institutions and Fintech companies on the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Boris also has experience advising companies on privacy concerns stemming from the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) and other biometric data requirements. Boris has a strong command of global privacy and cybersecurity laws and advises companies on regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, and the EU’s ePrivacy Directive.Boris counsels clients ranging from emerging to late-stage to public companies across industries, including technology, data brokerage, AI, financial services and Fintech, crypto, life sciences, consumer services, e-commerce, AdTech, media, and others. For seven consecutive years, Boris has been individually recognized by Chambers USA in the Privacy & Data Security category and is recognized by Chambers Global for Privacy & Data Security – USA. He has also been recognized by The Legal 500 as a leading lawyer in cyber law (including data privacy and data protection). Crain’s New York Business has previously included him in its 40 Under 40 list, and New York Metro has recognized Boris as both a Super Lawyer and a Rising Star.Boris is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US) through the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), has previously served as co-chair of NYC IAPP KnowledgeNet, and served on the IAPP’s Research Board. Boris currently serves as one of the leaders of the UJA Privacy and Cybersecurity Group. Boris also is an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University School of Law, where he co-teaches a class on the law of data as an asset.