CB Insights created the below infographic on October 26, 2015 illustrating the rise of unicorn companies since 2011. This graphic is particularly interesting when viewed together with CB Insights’ blog post this morning (January 7, 2016) that recaps FY 2015 venture financing data.  CB Insights’ recent data shows that while FY 2015 was a record-setting year for venture financings, there was a dramatic drop in the number of mega financings in Q4 2015 (which mega deals had previously been driving the record level).  In any event, the graphics
Continue Reading Unicorn Infographic and 2015 Trends

Just a reminder to those who have Delaware corporations, your annual report and franchise tax payment are both due by March 1. At this point, you have likely already received from Delaware your notification of annual report and franchise tax due, which is sent to a corporation’s registered agent in December or January of each year. Delaware requires these reports to be filed electronically.

As you will notice, there are two methods that you can use to calculate the amount of Delaware franchise tax due for your corporation (…
Continue Reading Franchise tax due by March 1 for Delaware corporations: two methods of calculation, two vastly different results

Good news from a tax planning perspective as we head into the new year.  The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015, which was enacted into law on December 18, 2015, retroactively extends certain provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) that had previously expired.  Of particular interest to our readers, the PATH Act permanently extends the 100% capital gains exclusion for “qualified small business stock” (also referred to as QSBS) initially acquired after September 27, 2010.

As a quick refresher, the QSBS tax exemption was originally enacted…
Continue Reading 100% exclusion for Federal capital gains tax on the sale of QSBS permanently extended

The PCAOB has adopted new rules and accompanying amendments to auditing standards, which require audit firms to disclose the names of each audit engagement partner, as well as information regarding other audit firms that participated in any audit of a public company. The new rules are intended to provide investors with more information about the partner and firms involved in the audit in order to facilitate evaluating audit quality, and to incentivize auditors to organize audit teams carefully.

The new rules will require auditors to file with the PCAOB a new Form AP, Auditor Reporting of Certain Audit Participants, for each issuer audit, disclosing:

  • The name of the engagement partner;
  • The names, locations, and extent of participation of other accounting firms that took part in the audit, if their work constituted 5% or more of the total audit hours; and
  • The number and aggregate extent of participation of all other accounting firms that took part in the audit whose individual participation was less than 5 percent of the total audit hours.

Continue Reading Audit Firms Must Disclose Engagement Partner

The Q3 2015 Halo Report has been released by The Angel Resource Institute at Willamette University (ARI) and PitchBook.  The Halo Report analyzes angel group investment activity and trends in the United States.  Here are a couple interesting Q3 2015 highlights:

  • The median seed-stage valuation has hit an all-time high of $4M (up from $3M in 2014);
  • The median round size in deals with only angel investors was $725K and the median round size in deals when angels co-invest with non-angels was $1.71M (both up materially from Q3 2014);

…
Continue Reading Angel Investment Trends: Q3 2015 Halo Report

PitchBook just released its analysis of Q3 2015 venture capital activity by region, focusing on three key U.S. regions: the Bay Area; New York; and the Pacific Northwest. Below are the PitchBook infographics and a quick summary of the results:

Bay Area:

  • The median pre-money valuation for Q3 2015 was $61.8m.
  • The reported deals with the highest valuations were: Uber Series F pre-money at $51B; Stem Centrx Series G pre-money at $4.8B; Palantir Technologies pre-money at $4.9B; and Stripe pre-money at $4.9B.

3Q_2015_Bay_Recap-2New York metro:

  • The median pre-money valuation

…
Continue Reading Recap of Q3 2015 Venture Capital Activity by Region

From our colleagues Kelly Friedman, Tamara Hunter and Jim Halpert

This fall, more than a year after Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) came into force, it is abundantly clear that the regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, is taking its new responsibilities very seriously.

In the latest developments, the CRTC recently issued an Enforcement Advisory and further Guidance on Implied Consent.

The CRTC’s message is loud and clear – it will impose penalties, regardless of good intentions.

Find out more about CASL and the key messages for business in…
Continue Reading Canadian Anti-Spam Regulatory Activity

From our colleague Michael McKee

The EU has adopted a new regulation, which will introduce a new legal framework for electronic signatures, seals, time stamps and electronic documents.

These rules aim at creating a uniform regime across EU for the mutual recognition of electronic identification between member states. This new regulatory framework (910/2014/EU) was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 28 August 2014 under the name “Regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market” (commonly referred as “e-IDAS” Regulation).

It will…
Continue Reading Electronic Signatures – New European Union Regulation

Every so often a public company finds itself unable to file periodic reports for a protracted time.  For example, a company may upgrade auditors and the new firm may advise of the need to re-audit prior years, which can take significant time.  Until there is a reliable starting point for financial statements, new filings are in limbo.  As time marches on, the older missed filings have less and less signficance to investors but would still entail the same amount of effort and expense to complete as any periodic report.

Over…
Continue Reading SEC guidance on “catching up” delinquent filers

Earlier today PitchBook released its M&A Report for Q3 2015 and the stats indicate continued strength in merger and acquisition activity.

While the overall deal count for Q2 2015 was down (4,250 deals with an aggregate value of $416 billion) as compared to the prior quarter (4,803 deals with an aggregate of $560 billion) and prior year (5,183 deal with an aggregate of $373 billion), the average transaction size spiked to $1.103 billion in Q2 2015 as compared to $795.3 million in Q1 2015 and $231.9 million in Q2 2014.
Continue Reading Merger activity remains strong in Q3 2015; average deal size spikes