--- title: "Funding | Pitch, European law firm for IP, IT & data" description: "Before investors put money in, they want to see clean IP, clean records and clean contracts." url: https://pitch.law/solutions/funding --- [pitch](https://pitch.law/) [Solutions](https://pitch.law/solutions) [Corporate and M\&A](https://pitch.law/solution-categories/corporate-m-a) # Funding Before investors put money in, they want to see clean IP, clean records and clean contracts. We get you ready for the round, then do the legal work through to closing. - - By [Bart Lieben](https://pitch.law/team/bart-lieben), Attorney-at-Law - 8 February 2022 ## The question You are about to raise money, or you expect to within a year. Investors will ask who owns the IP. They will want to see the cap table, and they will look for contracts that end on a change of control. In regulated sectors they will check compliance too. Your answers need to hold up, and you still have a company to run while the round goes on. The money can come in several forms. Equity from angels or venture funds. Convertible instruments. Bank debt or IP-backed debt. Regional co-investment, and public funding. Each one gives the investor something different in return, costs you a different amount of control, and takes its own time. Founders usually come to us at one of a few moments. A first term sheet has just arrived and nobody on the team has seen one before. Or a seed or Series A round is planned within the year. Sometimes it is a family business taking in a minority investor, or a company that wants to combine equity with grants and bank debt. ## Our approach We start before the first investor meeting, with an investor-readiness review. It covers what investor due diligence most often turns up. Have founders, employees and contractors assigned their IP to the company? Are the registered rights in the company's name? Are key contracts and licences signed, and can they be transferred? Is data protection in order, and are the sector rules met? Our [guide to valuing an IP portfolio](https://pitch.law/academy/how-to-value-ip-portfolio) shows how investors look at that part of the company. At the same time we put the evidence in order, in a [data room](https://pitch.law/technologies/data-room) with an index, controlled access and a log of every question and answer. Each investor gets an orderly process. Your answers stay consistent from one investor to the next. When an offer comes in, we go through the term sheet with you. Valuation mechanics, liquidation preference, anti-dilution, governance and reserved matters, vesting and leaver terms, exclusivity. Our article on [funding rounds, term sheets and investment agreements](https://pitch.law/academy/startup-funding-rounds) covers each of these. We then draft and negotiate the investment agreement, the shareholders' agreement, the new articles of association and the closing documents. [Document Studio](https://pitch.law/technologies/contract-studio) produces the first drafts. A lawyer reworks them. Non-dilutive funding runs alongside the round. Regional R\&D grants, the withholding tax exemption for researchers and the innovation income deduction reduce the cash you need to raise. We model them together with the equity plan. See [R\&D grants and subsidies](https://pitch.law/solutions/r-d-funding). During the round we keep a running list of open points: what the investor asked, what we answered, and what still needs a decision from the founders. Each investor sees only its own correspondence. Our technology does the first drafts and the data room index. What to concede, what to resist, and what the founders need explained before they sign: that is the lawyer's call. Closing is prepared with a checklist of signatures, notarial formalities and payments, so nothing is missing on the day. ## What you get - A short readiness report: the gaps, in order of priority, and how to close them. - A data room set up for the investors you plan to approach. - A marked-up term sheet with a note on the negotiating points. - Draft and final investment agreement, shareholders' agreement, articles and closing documents. - Advice on how public funding and tax incentives fit with the round. Every document is checked and signed off by a lawyer before it goes to the other side. Tax and accounting points are coordinated with your accountant. Fees are agreed up front, as a fixed fee per phase or another arrangement that suits the round. ## Next step Tell us how much you plan to raise, from whom and by when. We will tell you what to prepare first. [Schedule a meeting](https://pitch.law/schedule) or [contact us](https://pitch.law/contact-us). ## In short - Investor-readiness review before the first meeting - Term sheet review and negotiation - Investment and shareholders' agreements drafted and negotiated - Structured data room for investor due diligence - Public funding and tax incentives considered alongside equity ## Technology we use - [Technology](https://pitch.law/technologies/data-room) ### [Data Room and Due Diligence](https://pitch.law/technologies/data-room) [One controlled environment for M\&A due diligence, RFI and RFP processes, one-off reviews and recurring scans, with lawyers checking what comes out.](https://pitch.law/technologies/data-room) - [Technology](https://pitch.law/technologies/contract-studio) ### [Document Studio](https://pitch.law/technologies/contract-studio) [Our Document Studio drafts and analyses legal documents in a secure, on-premise environment, and keeps the documents behind your matters up to date as new data comes in and procedural steps fall due.](https://pitch.law/technologies/contract-studio) ## Background reading - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/startup-funding-rounds) ### [Funding Rounds: Term Sheets and Investment Agreements](https://pitch.law/academy/startup-funding-rounds) [How an equity round for a company in the EU works, the term sheet, what each clause does, the investment and shareholders' agreements, and what investors check first.](https://pitch.law/academy/startup-funding-rounds) - [Academy](https://pitch.law/academy/how-to-value-ip-portfolio) ### [How to Value an IP Portfolio](https://pitch.law/academy/how-to-value-ip-portfolio) [Why and when an IP portfolio is valued, the three standard valuation approaches, and the legal facts that decide whether a right is worth what its owner thinks.](https://pitch.law/academy/how-to-value-ip-portfolio) ## More in Corporate and M\&A - ### [Incorporate a Company in Belgium](https://pitch.law/solutions/incorporation) [Setting up a Belgian company means choosing the right form, a sound financial plan, articles and a shareholders' agreement, and making sure the company owns the IP behind the business. We prepare everything and work with your notary.](https://pitch.law/solutions/incorporation) - ### [M\&A and Due Diligence](https://pitch.law/solutions/m-a-due-diligence) [A deal needs a structure, a hard look at what is being transferred, and a contract that puts each risk with the right party. We run the legal side from preparation to closing.](https://pitch.law/solutions/m-a-due-diligence) - ### [Management Agreement](https://pitch.law/solutions/management-agreement) [A director or manager who works through a management company or as a self-employed person needs an agreement that holds up as a mandate and not as employment. We draft it around the law that applies, the company's IP and a clean exit.](https://pitch.law/solutions/management-agreement) - ### [Shareholders' Agreement](https://pitch.law/solutions/shareholders-agreement) [A shareholders' agreement sets out how the owners run the company, who may sell to whom and what happens when they disagree. We draft it with the articles of association, and make sure the IP stays in the company.](https://pitch.law/solutions/shareholders-agreement) - ### [Valuation](https://pitch.law/solutions/valuation) [A price for a company or its IP is only as good as the rights behind it. We supply the legal, IP and tax input that makes a valuation stand, whether it serves a funding round, a contribution in kind, a transfer or an exit.](https://pitch.law/solutions/valuation) ## Let’s talk Tell us what you’re working on. We’ll get the right person on it and reply within one business day. The first chat is free. [Schedule a meeting](https://pitch.law/schedule)