Here is your roundup of recent significant events in the worlds of technology, entrepreneurship, startups and venture capital investing in Florida and beyond. Please share this information with others who may find it valuable.
The Big Buzz
Gunster lawyers guide local health care company through its IPO. Congratulations to Gunster lawyers David Scileppi, Bob Lamm, Gus Schmidt, Stephanie Quinones and Stacie Townsend. This team advised Sensus Healthcare in its recent successful initial public offering. Sensus is a designer and manufacturer of superficial radiation technology and equipment for treatment of dermatological and oncological conditions.
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| Sensus Healthcare’s first day of trading on Nasdaq, June 9, 2016. Photo courtesy of © Nasdaq, Inc. |
Useful Stuff
How to avoid the high cost of a software licensing audit at your company. Software licensing audits can be stressful and result in substantial legal problems and costs. However, strategic planning – as outlined in these 10 steps – may allow company owners and executives to save their energy for growing their business instead of sweating out an audit.
Recent Happenings
- Some good news: Florida could have a $1 trillion economy by 2018, with continued strong job growth.
- UF’s huge positive economic impact. The University of Florida has become a huge economic engine for our state. I think that we all knew this, but it’s nice to see some hard numbers to back it up.
- Good report on status of Regulation A+ after one year. State challenges were defeated but utilization remains low.
- Businesses near Pulse nightclub in Orlando, site of the tragic shooting by a lone gunman last month, face the challenge of reopening.
- Nice video presentation by Susan Amat (VentureHive) regarding the bad things that can happen when a startup grows too fast. We all love fast growth, but there is a downside, and this presentation nails it.
- An SEC official recently provided some guidance and insight on the status of the SEC’s positions on cybersecurity and associated breaches. Not surprisingly, he said that companies need to step up their compliance efforts and be more diligent in the cybersecurity area. He also predicted more enforcement activity. While the SEC has yet to bring a cybersecurity enforcement action, it’s only a matter a time. Public company boards and executives should take notice.
- Regulation A+ resists two states’ challenges. Regulation A+, the much-anticipated “mini-IPO” securities offering structure and one of the key components of the JOBS Act, was challenged by state securities regulators in Massachusetts and Montana. These challenges were recently rejected by a Federal appellate court, thus clearing the way for Regulation A+ offerings to proceed in those states. As seen below, however, the utilization of Regulation A+ since its effectiveness last year has remained relatively low.
- Congratulations to AxoGen in the Gainesville area, on recently being added to Russell 2000 index.
- Venture capital investment in Q2 was up 20.5 percent over Q1; big chunk went to Uber and Snapchat. Seems like investor confidence is back.
- Every startup founder has faced these: 3 moments when you want to quit your startup.
- U.S./EU Privacy Shield should help U.S. companies operating in EU by providing clarity in personal data transfers.
- One consequence of Brexit for UK: possible legal and economic problems as it won’t be part of U.S./EU Privacy Shield.
Your LOL of the month:
Robot escapes lab in Russia, makes dash for freedom
Events
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The Boca Raton Tech Start-Ups Meetup presents its 14th Tech Startup Pitch Event & Networking – a crowdfunding rules update will precede the event (Boca Raton) |
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Get to know NeoGenomics Laboratory and the southwest chapter of BioFlorida. Attend to get to know regional leaders in the life science (Fort Myers) |
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South Florida Business Journal’s Fast 50 awards (Fort Lauderdale). Meet South Florida’s 50 fastest-growing private companies; cocktails and hors d’oeuvres followed by an awards program |
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Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Latin America is coming up & our friend Raul Vega is chairing (Coconut Grove) |
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Connecting the dots: From idea to commercialization, the 2016 BioFlorida Conference (Jacksonville) |
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5th annual ITPalooza by South Florida Technology Alliance (Fort Lauderdale) |
About Gunster’s VentureBuzz
Produced by Gunster’s technology and emerging companies attorneys, Gunster’s VentureBuzz is designed to provide regular updates on news, events, advances and innovations of interest to companies, entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capital and private equity firms and investment banks in Florida and beyond.
Gunster’s technology and emerging companies team is involved in all stages of business development and commercial law. Our legal counsel covers the initial business planning phase, structuring of new entities, complex operational and corporate financing transactions, as well as the final liquidity event.
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This publication is for general information only. It is not legal advice, and legal counsel should be contacted before any action is taken that might be influenced by this publication.
About Gunster
Gunster, Florida’s law firm for business, provides full-service legal counsel to leading organizations and individuals from its 13 offices statewide. Established in 1925, the firm has expanded, diversified and evolved, but always with a singular focus: Florida and its clients’ stake in it. A magnet for business-savvy attorneys who embrace collaboration for the greatest advantage of clients, Gunster’s growth has not been at the expense of personalized service but because of it. The firm serves clients from its offices in Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Naples, Orlando, Palm Beach, Stuart, Tallahassee, Tampa Bayshore, Tampa Downtown, Vero Beach, and its headquarters in West Palm Beach. With more than 280 attorneys and consultants, and over 290 committed professional staff, Gunster is ranked among the National Law Journal’s list of the 500 largest law firms and has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Diverse Law Firms by Law360. More information about its practice areas, offices and insider’s view newsletters is available at www.gunster.com.
