Late-Stage Company

We help maturing companies achieve their goals — handling strategic and day-to-day operational issues while raising capital, achieving a successful M&A outcome or transitioning to the public markets.

For more than 25 years, we have focused on representing high-growth companies, including management and boards of late stage companies, in the technology and life sciences industries. We see around corners and help clients plan for any future outcome.

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Late-Stage Company

Experience Highlights

$100 billion+ of financings closed for company clients since 2020

Growth Equity | Pre-exit Liquidity | Preparing for an Exit

Late-stage private companies often raise capital from investors with a different profile than the VCs that funded the company earlier in its life. We help GCs and company management navigate a different style of negotiation with more financially-oriented growth equity and crossover investors, as well as lenders. Companies at this stage are also typically still growing rapidly, with a small legal function that needs to scale alongside the business. We help GCs of these companies build out a team and streamline their operations to better support the more complex needs of the business.

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Growth Equity | Pre-exit Liquidity | Preparing for an Exit

As companies remain private longer, pressure often builds among founders, early employees and investors for pre-exit liquidity. We help companies at this stage develop and implement structured liquidity programs for key company stakeholders, including private tender offers with late-stage investors. These transactions can be complex to manage, so we partner seamlessly with software providers that help streamline the process and allow the company to provide sufficient liquidity to keep employees focused on continuing to build value in the business as it continues to work towards a sale or IPO exit.

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Growth Equity | Pre-exit Liquidity | Preparing for an Exit

Whether a company is preparing to go public, shopping for an acquirer or pursuing a dual-track process, we can help make sure the company is putting its best foot forward at this most crucial stage in the company’s life. Acquirers sometimes turn up out of the blue. Whether a sale of the company is premeditated or opportunistic, we have deep expertise helping private companies achieve the best possible M&A outcomes.

Preparations for an IPO typically get underway two years in advance of the offering itself. We help pre-IPO companies select new advisors, such as auditors and underwriters, and hire key executives and directors who have significant public company experience. We guide the company through the transition to having public company board and committee structures and use our deep institutional knowledge of the company to craft the most compelling story for its prospectus.

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#30BoldIdeas: Why Companies Are Staying Private Longer

New York Partner Greg Volkmar explains how venture-back private companies are facing longer timelines before reaching liquidity events, and how this trend is changing strategies for founders, employees, and investors. He highlights the challenges of maintaining incentives, securing long-term partners, and evolving relationships between founders and investors as companies stay private longer.

#30BoldIdeas

#30BoldIdeas: Long-Term Partnerships and Performance

Gunderson Partners Ivan Gaviria and Jeff Higgins discuss the unique journey of late-stage companies, emphasizing the importance of enduring client relationships from startup to exit and beyond. They highlight how Gunderson Dettmer’s distinct value proposition, combined with deep knowledge of growth, M&A, and readiness for a world shaped by AI, positions the firm to support companies through complex scaling, transitions, and lasting success.

#30BoldIdeas

Our Focus

Related Services

We complement our deep bench of corporate lawyers with other key transactional and regulatory services. As companies grow, we advise them on a full range of legal and business issues, including: