Morrison Foerster is an international law firm with lawyers practicing throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. Click to discover more.

mofo_share_image.jpg

Morrison Foerster

common-default.jpeg

Terms / Notices

Cookies

Privacy Policy

Reporting Hotline

Attorney Advertising

Alumni

  Linkedin

MoFo LinkedIN

  Facebook

MoFo Facebook

YouTube

MoFo Youtube

Morrison Foerster - Footer

MoFo Advised Mesh in Acquisition of Bluvo

You have not solved the recaptcha challenge yet or session expired, try again.

Email Disclaimer

Disclaimer

Unsolicited e-mails and information sent to Morrison Foerster will not be considered confidential, may be disclosed to others pursuant to our <a href="https://www.mofo.com/about/privacy-policy.html">Privacy Policy</a>, may not receive a response, and do not create an attorney-client relationship with Morrison Foerster. If you are not already a client of Morrison Foerster, do not include any confidential information in this message. Also, please note that our attorneys do not seek to practice law in any jurisdiction in which they are not properly authorized to do so.

Feedback

mofo-logo-2022.svg

People

Capabilities

Resources

About

Community

Offices

Careers

Stay Connected

<h3>Sorry, we weren’t able to find the terms you entered.</h3>Please try a different term or keyword.

People

Capabilities

Resources

Not Found Cards

About Morrison Foerster

people-default-header-desktop.jpg

people-default-header-mobile.jpg

Default Meta Data

Morrison Foerster advised Mesh, the first global crypto payments network, in its acquisition of Bluvo, a developer of exchange connectivity technology. Mesh is building toward a world where money moves freely across the entire financial stack, regardless of where a user holds their funds or which rails they run on. Since 2020, the company has connected more than 300 exchanges and wallets through a single integration. The MoFo team advising Mesh was led by emerging companies + venture capital partner Jim Ryan, M&A partner Mike Krigbaum, with associates Lovina Consunji and John Shawel. The team also included tax partner Dave Sturgeon, executive compensation + benefits partner Yuan Xia and associate Arton Falahati, and labor and employment partner Cooper Spinelli.Read <a href="https://www.meshpay.com/press-releases/mesh-bluvo-acquisition?utm_content=467655409&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&hss_channel=lcp-67958448" target="_blank">Mesh's press release</a>.

Sign Up

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

Partner

Mike Krigbaum is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Transactions Department and Managing Partner of the firm's Palo Alto office. Mike focuses on mergers and acquisitions, including private and public acquisitions of technology and life sciences companies on both the buy-side and target-side, and venture capital transactions, as well as on emerging company counseling.For his M&A clients, Mike advises on domestic and cross-border deal structuring and mechanics relating to stock and asset purchases, mergers, divestitures, tender offers, joint ventures, spin-offs and restructurings.Mike also represents a number of venture capital firms, corporate venture capital divisions and emerging companies, both in the technology and life science industries, with respect to venture capital transactions, negotiations and structuring, as well as general emerging company counseling.<h4>Representative Transactions</h4><h5>Mergers and Acquisitions</h5><ul><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></ul><ul><li>Vontier Corporation in its sale of Global Traffic Technologies, LLC, a US-based leading provider of intelligent traffic management systems and solutions, to Miovision, a Canada-based traffic optimization company.</li></ul><ul><li>Era Software, an observability and log management innovator, in connection with its sale to ServiceNow (NSYE: NOW), a leading digital workflow company.</li><li>Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. in connection with its $2 billion acquisition of Questar Pipeline, consisting of Dominion Energy Questar Pipeline, LLC, its subsidiaries, and certain associated affiliates, including Overthrust Pipeline, White River Hub, and Questar Field Services from Dominion Energy, Inc.</li></ul><ul><li>Unical Aviation Inc. and certain of the company’s affiliates in its sale to Platinum Equity, a Los Angeles-based global investment firm with more than $25 billion of assets under management. </li><li>MobileIron, Inc. in its sale for approximately $900 million to Ivanti, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise-grade intelligent IT management and security software solutions.</li><li>McAfee in its acquisition of Skyhigh Networks, Inc., a worldwide leader in the cloud access security broker (CASB) market segment.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its $1.54 billion acquisition of AirWatch, a mobile device management provider.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of Ananda Networks, a cloud-managed service that enables organizations to create their own private networks</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of AetherPal, Inc., a market leader in mobile support.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of Avi Networks, developer of an application delivery platform designed to deliver multi-cloud application services.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of BitRock, Inc. (doing business as Bitnami), a leader in application packaging solutions.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of CloudCoreo, a next-generation cloud security service.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of CloudVelox, a designer of cloud automation and optimization software.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of Desktone, Inc., a Massachusetts-based company that pioneered Desktops as a Service (DaaS), delivering desktops and applications as a cloud service.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of <a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://mode.net/">Mode.net</a>, developer of a cloud-based online performance platform intended to transform the cost and convenience of private fiber.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of network analytics software firm Nyansa.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of the Mountain View-based cloud networking startup VeloCloud™ Networks, Inc.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of Veriflow Systems, provider of network security systems designed to eliminate outages and vulnerabilities in the network.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in the sale of the rights to its VMware vCloud Government Service, a FedRAMP-compliant solution that was developed in partnership between QTS and VMware to deliver cloud services to the Federal sector, to QTS Realty Trust, an international provider of data center, managed hosting, and cloud services.</li><li>VMware, Inc. in its acquisition of Wavefront, a metrics monitoring service for cloud and modern application environments.</li><li>Walmart in its acquisition of assets of <a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://art.com/">Art.com</a>, the world’s largest online retailer in the art and wall décor category.</li><li>Walmart in its acquisition of Bare Necessities, an online retailer of women’s bras, swimwear, shapewear and sleepwear.</li><li>Walmart in its acquisition of Eloquii, Inc., a retailer of women’s apparel specifically designed for women size 14 and up.</li><li>Walmart and its Global eCommerce division in a strategic alliance with <a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://jd.com/">JD.com</a>, China’s largest e-commerce company by revenue, in a transaction that included Walmart’s acquisition of an equity stake in <a rel="noopener" target="_blank" href="https://jd.com/">JD.com</a> valued at approximately $1.5 billion.</li><li>Walmart in its acquisition of MeMD, Inc., a multi-specialty telehealth provider.</li><li>Vendorin, LLC, an integrated payment network and supplier engagement platform, in its $90 million sale to Corcentric, Inc., a leading provider of source-to-pay and order-to-cash software and services. </li><li>Mirantis, Inc. in its acquisition of the Docker Enterprise platform business from Docker, Inc.</li><li>McKesson Corporation, a leading international healthcare services and information technology company, in its acquisitions of Vantage Oncology, LLC, a leading national provider of radiation oncology, medical oncology and integrated cancer care, and Biologics, Inc., an oncology pharmacy services company. The combined value of the two transactions is $1.2 billion.</li><li>McKesson Corporation in its acquisition of LABSCO, a privately held, Kentucky-based distributor of diagnostic equipment for community hospital labs and private office labs.</li><li>McKesson Corporation in the $130 million sale of ZEE Medical to Cintas Corporation, the publicly traded uniform and first aid products company.</li><li>McKesson Corporation in the restructuring and divestiture of McKesson’s VITAL Platform to private equity firm Comvest Investment Partners.</li><li>Intel Corporation in its acquisition of the HTML5 developer tools business of appMobi, Inc., a Lancaster, PA, company that provides development tools and cloud-based services built on HTML5, CSS and Javascript.</li><li>Intel Corporation in its acquisition of Basis Science, Inc., a wearable fitness watch company.</li><li>Intel Corporation in its acquisition of Mashery, Inc. via a reverse triangular merger.</li><li>Intel Corporation in the acquisition of a Korean computer vision company.</li><li>Intel Corporation in the asset purchase of a digital media design company.</li><li>Santen Pharmaceutical in its acquisition of InnFocus, a development stage medical device company.</li><li>RNTS Media N.V. in its acquisition of Heyzap, Inc., a mobile advertising network company based in San Francisco.</li></ul><h5>Venture Capital</h5><ul><li>Walmart in a $500 million financing and strategic alliance with New Dada, China's largest localized on-demand logistics and grocery O2O ecommerce platform.</li><li>Delivery Hero in connection with several venture capital investments.</li><li>Taiho Ventures (an investment arm of Taiho Pharmaceuticals) in its strategic investments in multiple startup companies.</li><li>Astellas Venture Management (an investment arm of Astellas Pharma) in multiple venture capital investments, including both early- and late-stage investments.</li><li>Santen Pharmaceutical in multiple venture capital investments, including both early- and late-stage investments.</li><li>Spectrum28 (an early-stage investment fund) in multiple seed investments.</li><li>Longitude Capital in multiple venture capital investments, including both early- and late-stage investments, as well as cross-border investments.</li><li>New Enterprise Associates and Oak Investment Partners as sellers and continuing shareholders in a strategic alliance between their portfolio company Lianlian Group, a China-based mobile services company, and American Express.</li><li>Snaplogic, a cloud and data integration company, in its Series A, Series B and Series C financing rounds.</li><li>DNAnexus, a provider of cloud-based genome informatics and data management, in its incorporation and Series A and Series B financing rounds.</li><li>Sight Sciences, an ophthalmic medical device company, in its Series A and Series B financing rounds.</li><li>Sugarfina, Inc., a luxury candy brand that now operates over 30 boutiques and Nordstrom shop-in-shops across North America, in its Series B Preferred Stock financing.</li></ul>

Mike Krigbaum

Lovina Cosunji is a corporate associate in the Palo Alto office of Morrison Foerster.Prior to joining the firm as an associate, Lovina was a summer associate in Morrison Foerster’s Palo Alto office. She also served as a Contract Reviewer and Student Lead with The Atticus Project, a non-profit organization harnessing the power of AI to accelerate contract review.Lovina earned her J.D., summa cum laude, from Santa Clara University School of Law, where she was the recipient of the James A. Emery S.J. Merit Scholarship for outstanding academic credentials. Lovina is a member of the Santa Clara Law Chapter of the Order of the Coif. She also holds a B.S. in Psychology from Ateneo de Manila University.She is fluent in Filipino.

Lovina Consunji

Associate

John Shawel is a corporate associate in Morrison Foerster’s Palo Alto office.John’s practice focuses on general corporate transactional matters, including venture capital, mergers & acquisitions, and private funds.John earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Santa Clara University School of Law and his M.B.A. from the University of Southern California. He holds a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Notre Dame, where he was a national champion and four-time All-American in track and field.Previously, John worked in various corporate finance roles, most recently as a finance manager at eBay.He is a licensed CPA in the State of California.

John Shawel

David Sturgeon is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Federal Tax practice.Dave advises clients on a broad range of complex business transactions, including domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, spin-offs and other divestitures, as well as financings, refinancings, restructurings and other business transactions.He earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a member of the Chicago Journal of International Law, and received his Master of Laws in taxation from New York University School of Law.Prior to joining Morrison Foerster, Dave was an associate at a law firm in New York, where he represented public companies, financial institutions, private equity clients and other sponsor entities across industries in an extensive range of business transactions.

Dave Sturgeon

Yuan Xia is a partner in Morrison Foerster’s Palo Alto office. She is a member of the firm’s Executive Compensation + Benefits practice.Yuan’s practice focuses on the transactional aspects of executive compensation matters in the context of domestic and cross-border mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, public offerings and restructurings. Yuan regularly counsels public companies, private equity funds, and startup companies on the design and implementation of equity, incentive and non-qualified deferred compensation agreements, change in control, retention and severance, and executive employment agreements. Yuan also has distinct experience advising public companies on executive compensation disclosures for annual proxy statements and merger proxies, initial public offerings and Form 8–Ks. Yuan was recognized by Legal 500 US as a Rising Star in Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation and Retirement Plans (Transaction) for 2024.Prior to joining the firm, Yuan was an associate at another international law firm headquartered in New York.

Yuan Xia

Arton Falahati is an associate in the San Francisco office of Morrison Foerster and member of the firm’s Executive Compensation + Benefits practice.Prior to joining the firm, Arton was a Legal Intern for a Fortune 500 consumer products company, an investor-owned utility company, as well as a webcasting and virtual event technology company. Arton earned his J.D. from the University of California, Davis School of Law, where he served as Staff Editor for the Business Law Journal and Research Editor for the Social Justice Law Review. He also served as the Vice President of the Middle Eastern North African South Asian Law Students Association. He also holds a Master of Education from University of Maryland, College Park, and a B.A., magna cum laude, from San Jose State University.

Arton Falahati

Cooper Spinelli is a member of the Litigation Department and part of the firm’s Employment & Labor Group. His practice focuses on trade secrets and restrictive covenants, employee mobility and executive disputes, whistleblower claims, and general business litigation.Cooper has represented clients in both affirmative and defensive trade secret misappropriation and employee mobility cases, including cases involving related IP issues. Cooper has, for example, represented a Fortune 50 company in prosecuting an employee-raiding and computer-fraud case against former high-level executives and managers, resulting in a favorable settlement. Cooper also defended a North American provider of IT solutions and services in a series of putative trade secret and employee mobility cases, helping oversee defensive and affirmative litigation across multiple state and federal jurisdictions. And on behalf of a leading multi-cloud security and application management company, Cooper is defending and has helped secure an initial dismissal of a 12-defendant, 26-cause-of-action case in federal court concerning claims of copyright infringement, fraud, and tortious interference based on alleged conduct in Russia and California.In addition, Cooper has represented companies in highly sensitive matters involving involuntary and negotiated departures of chief executive and other senior officers.Cooper also regularly advises innovative startup companies on a range of employment matters, including restrictive covenant and employee mobility issues, at various stages of their lifecycle.Cooper has also contributed to papers and leading treatises addressing trade secrets, employee mobility, and other related issues, including chapters for leading BNA treatises Trade Secrets: A State-by-State Survey, Covenants Not to Compete, Employee Duty of Loyalty, and Tortious Interference in the Employment Context.Before joining the firm, Cooper was an employment and litigation associate at an AmLaw 100 law firm. Before that, he clerked for the Hon. Steven B. Berlin at the Department of Labor, Office of Administrative Law Judges in San Francisco.Cooper received his J.D. magna cum laude from American University Washington College of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. During law school, Cooper was a senior editor on the executive board for the Administrative Law Review, the official law journal of the American Bar Association Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice.Cooper received a B.A. with distinction from the University of California, Berkeley.