Trent Dykes
I am a corporate and securities attorney who represents emerging growth companies and the investors who invest in such companies, and am the Chair of the Northwest Emerging Growth and Venture Capital Practice for DLA Piper. My practice focuses on securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate law. My clients are individual entrepreneurs, early stage, venture-backed and public companies and venture capital investors. I have done numerous initial and secondary public offerings and hundreds of seed and venture financings. I enjoy helping startup companies navigate their way into successful enterprises.
We started this blog because we often get asked the same questions by entrepreneurs and company executives. We thought this would be a good forum to share some of what we have learned through our extensive experience helping these companies, entrepreneurs and investors. Having represented more than a hundred companies, investors, and VCs, I thought it would be useful to share my thoughts on current issues that are relevant to my clients and likely to others in the startup community.
On a personal level, I am a Northwest native and currently live on the eastside with my wife, daughter and two dogs. I went to the University of Washington for both undergraduate and law school. I am a former University of Washington football player (quarterback, 1995-99). I find an accurate capitalization table cathartic. This, along with my finance background and Excel skills, makes me well-suited for my career as a corporate attorney.
Current and past clients
I represent or have represented such companies as Amazon.com, AquaStasis, Array Health Solutions, Botanical Laboratories, Carena, Generic Medical Devices, Healionics, Imperium Renewables, Kinetix Living, Liquid Light, lululemon athletica, Micronics, Neah Power Systems, NetMotion Wireless, Noetix, Northstar Neuroscience, OneBuild, Pacific Edge Software, Pinkberry, PopCap Games, Scout Analytics and Starbucks. I have also represented such venture capital firms as Ignition Partners, Madrona, Madrona, Maveron, Polaris Ventures, Sigma Partners and The Grosvenor Funds.
Selected Public and Private Financings
• Starbucks Corporation $550m public debt offering
• Northstar Neuroscience ~$120m initial public offering of common stock
• Imperium Renewables ~$120m Series B financing
• Pinkberry ~$17m Series B financing
• MediQuest Therapeutics ~$16m Series A financing
• Generic Medical Devices ~$14m Series A financing
• Botanical Laboratories $10.5 debt financing
• Micronics $6m Series C financing
Selected Mergers and Acquisitions
• Sale of PopCap Games to Electronic Arts (for up to $1.3 billion)
• Sale of Micronics to Sony
• Acquisition of ZipZapPlay by PopCap Games
• Sale of Northstar Neuroscience assets to St. Jude Medical
• Acquisition of Jaros Technologies by Noetix
• Sale of Kinetix Living to Regence BlueShield
• Sale of Pacific Edge Software to Serena Software
• Sale of NetMotion Wireless to Padcom
• Sale of Topline Solutions to NaviMedix
• Acquisition of SSP Solutions by Saflink Corporation
• Sale of Botanical Laboratories product line to Nutra Corp.
