For Entrepreneurs and Companies

From our colleagues Carla Small, Jim Halpert and Anne Kierig

Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced final cybersecurity rules for New York’s financial services sector.

The Cybersecurity Requirements for Financial Services Companies (the Final Rule), promulgated by the New York Department of Financial Services, is the most specific cybersecurity regulation in the country to apply to companies that are not critical infrastructure operators.

They apply to all New York-licensed financial services companies including banking, insurance and money transmission business lines, with very limited exceptions.

Read more here.

 
Continue Reading NYDFS Announces Final Cybersecurity Rules for Financial Services Sector

As a Valentine’s Day gift to the community, Silicon Valley Bank issued its eighth annual Startup Outlook Report, resulting from a survey of nearly 950 technology and healthcare executives in startups, most based in the US, with additional input from businesses with primary operations in the UK and China. SVB’s survey asked entrepreneurs for their views on access to capital, hiring, general business conditions, public policy issues and other factors relevant to their businesses.  Nearly all of the survey respondents were privately held companies, with the majority in the
Continue Reading SVB’s Annual Startup Outlook 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

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

PitchBook just released its analysis of Q2 2015 venture capital activity by region, focusing on the six of the most active U.S. regions: the Bay Area; Boston; Los Angeles; the Midwest; New York; and the Pacific Northwest.  Below is also a quick summary of the Q2 2015 highlights by region:

Bay Area:

  • The median pre-money valuation for Q2 2015 was $63.5m (up from $29m for Q4 2014).
  • The most active sector (by both deal count and capital invested), by a wide margin, was


Continue Reading Recap of Q2 2015 Venture Capital Activity by Region

The SEC has proposed rules requiring listed issuers to adopt and comply with written “clawback” policies. These policies would need to provide that, if a listed issuer is required to prepare an accounting restatement due to the material noncompliance of the issuer with any financial reporting requirement under the securities laws, then the issuer will recover the amount of any incentive-based compensation erroneously awarded to an executive officer. The listed issuer would also be required to disclose its clawback policy, disclose information about actions taken pursuant to its policy, and file its policy as an exhibit to its annual report.
Continue Reading SEC Proposes Clawback Rules

Exclusive Forum Provisions

We have previously blogged about Delaware corporations considering, and Delaware courts upholding, “exclusive forum” provisions in their charter documents. These provisions require stockholder derivative and other intra-corporate lawsuits to be filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Last week, following overwhelming support in the Delaware Legislature, the Delaware Governor signed into law an amendment to the Delaware General Corporation Law that expressly authorizes provisions in the corporation’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws establishing Delaware as the exclusive forum for “internal corporate claims.” Internal corporate claims
Continue Reading Delaware Permits Exclusive Forum Provisions, Bars Fee-Shifting Provisions

From our colleagues Lucas V. Muñoz, Margaret Keane, Ben Gipson and Daniel Lac

Beginning July 1, 2015, employers in the State of California are required to provide employees with paid sick leave (PSL) under the California Healthy Workplace Healthy Family Act of 2014. In short, every employee who works at least 30 days in a year is entitled to accrue PSL at a rate of at least one hour of PSL per 30 hours worked, up to 24 hours per year.

Simple enough? Not really. As employers implement
Continue Reading IMPLEMENTING CALIFORNIA’S PAID SICK LEAVE LAW: 10 ACTION ITEMS