A Deeper Dive — Current Issues in Corporate Venture Capital: New Deal Structures and Documentation
Sandi Knox, Ari Ruffer, and Ada Wall explore the evolving landscape of corporate venture capital, extending the discussion of a CLE program at the ABA Business Law Section’s 2023 Hybrid Spring Meeting (now available to view for BLS members). Drawing on Ruffer and Wall’s experience advising corporate venture capital funds at United Airlines and Chevron, and Knox’s as the leader of Sidley’s Corporate Venture Capital practice, the panelists shed light on this area that has grown immensely in recent years. Their conversation delves into benefits corporate venture capital can bring to the table, focus and strategy in CVC investment deals, and the increasing collaboration in the industry.
Read more about the video’s featured speakers below:
Sandi Knox is a founding lawyer of Sidley Austin LLP’s Palo Alto office and the Emerging Companies and Venture Capital practice, and leads the firm’s Corporate Venture Capital practice. She draws on over twenty years of practice in Silicon Valley, as well as experience as a global technology company general counsel, to advise emerging technology and life sciences companies, venture capital funds and corporate venture capital arms of Fortune 100 companies and other strategic investors in technology and life sciences transactions, corporate governance and executive compensation matters.
Ari Ruffer is Counsel – Corporate Transactions at United Airlines where he advises the company’s corporate development group and United Airlines Ventures. Ari started his career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, where he advised clients on mergers and acquisitions, debt financings and general corporate matters. Ari received a B.A. in Public Policy, magna cum laude, from Duke University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
Ada Wall, Senior Counsel at Chevron, supports Chevron Technology Ventures and Chevron New Energies, and is the coordinating attorney for their venture capital, growth capital and fund investments, with a focus on lower carbon technologies and business lines. She began her career at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, where she represented clients in a wide range of finance and corporate transactions, including equity investments, project financings, and acquisitions and divestitures, primarily in the energy sector. Ada has a B.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.
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