Cassandra Cuellar is an associate in the Emerging Growth practice.

Cassandra represents emerging companies, entrepreneurs and venture capital investors in a broad range of corporate transactions, primarily in the context of venture capital financings, public and private offerings, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance.  She counsels companies throughout their lifecycle on matters ranging from pre-incorporation planning, company formations, fundraising strategies, private financings, IPOs, follow-on offerings, as well as M&A and general corporate compliance matters.  Cassandra also counsels venture capital investors, such as investment funds, corporate venture capital investors and angel investors, on investment strategy, divestments and other portfolio company matters.

Cassandra is a member of the firm’s FinTech Foundry program, which supports the FinTech-related activities of our clients and the wider global FinTech ecosystem including financial institutions, FinTech start-ups, accelerators and incubators, venture capital and private equity investors, and policymakers.

Venture Capital

• Representation of a Chilean venture capital fund in its equity financings in a hospitality company creating unique travel experiences
• Representation of a Santiago, Chile-based logistics optimization platform in its $3 million Series A financing
• Representation of an eLearning platform in its equity financings
• Representation of a real estate investor in its investment in a co-working space
• Representation of the investment arm of a financial services company in its Series A investment in an intelligence platform using AI and predictive modeling
• Representation of a venture capital fund in its $60 million Series D investment in a cybersecurity company
• Representation of a medical device company in its $15 million convertible note financing
• Representation of a cloud identity management software company in its $14.9 million Series B financing
• Representation of a thermal management solutions company in its $10 million Series CC preferred stock financing and its $5 million convertible note financing led by an investment syndicate
• Representation of a pharmaceutical company in its $5 million convertible note financing
• Representation of an oil and gas mapping software company in its $3.2 million bridge financing
• Representation of an insurance business platform in its $1.3 million Series A-2 financing
• Representation of a network management solutions company in its $2.5 million note and warrant financing
• Representation of the venture financing division of a large financial services company in its $7 million Series B investment in an automotive accessories company
• Representation of a service enablement and network management software company in its bridge financing
• Representation of a software security company in its $2.8 million convertible note financing and in its sale of assets
• Representation of a restaurant consumer mobile application company in its $1.2 million Series A preferred stock financing
• Representation of a cloud services brokerage and management company in its $5 million Series A preferred stock and $7.7 million Series B preferred stock financings
• Representation of a private equity investment firm in its investment in a gas detection product developer and supplier in its Series D preferred stock financing
• Representation of an angel investor in its bridge investment in a wireless network software company
• Representation of a venture capital firm in its investment in an energy technology company in its $6 million Series C preferred stock financing
• Representation of a pharmaceutical company in its convertible note financing and its $16 million Series B preferred stock financing led by a syndicate of angel investors
• Representation of an online e-learning academy in its formation and its $2.5 million Series A preferred stock financing
• Representation of a telehealth analytics company in its Series B preferred stock financing
• Representation of a game developer in its Series A preferred stock financing
• Representation of an allergy lab company in several multimillion dollar equity financings
• Representation of a network management solutions company in its $4.2 million Series F preferred stock financing and bank debt financing
• Representation of a medical care provider in various multimillion dollar preferred stock financings
• Representation of a network and information services company in its $4 million Series A preferred stock financing
• Representation of a pharmaceutical company in its $1.9 million Series A preferred stock financing and convertible note financing
• Representation of a memory flash storage solutions company in its $7.9 million Series B preferred stock financing
• Representation of a software company in its $8.4 million Series 4 preferred stock financing and related restructuring
• Representation of an artificial intelligence software company in its $1.9 million Series A preferred stock financing
• Representation of a pharmaceutical company in its $45M Series C preferred stock financing and $30M follow-on Series C preferred stock financing
• Representation of various companies with international founders in early seed financing and convertible debt rounds
• Representation of a corporate investor in various transactions, including Series A, Series B and Series C preferred stock rounds, follow-on investment rounds, convertible debt rounds and secondary sales
• Representation of a landlord services software company in its $1.6 million Series A preferred unit round
• Representation of a learning management software company in its $2.5 million Series A-4 preferred stock round
• Representation of a pharmaceuticals company in its $7.5 million Series C preferred stock financing
• Representation of a video streaming company in its $4.45 million Series Seed preferred stock financing
• Representation of an online property listing company in its $3.3 million Series A preferred stock financing

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Representation of a publicly traded medical device company in its $1.1 billion sale
• Representation of a cloud identity management software company in its strategic sale to another cloud-based identity management software company
• Representation of a service enablement and network management software company in its acquisition of assets of a broadband technology company
• Representation of a security software company in its sale to a competing security software provider
• Representation of an allergy lab company in its acquisition of a competing allergy company
• Representation of an international direct marketing services company in its sale of two company divisions
• Representation of a medical device company in its sale to a strategic acquirer
• Representation of a learning management software company in its acquisition of assets from another learning management software company
• Representation of a virtual reality game developer in its sale to a public strategic acquirer
• Representation of venture capital investor in connection with such investor’s portfolio company’s merger and acquisition activity
• Representation of a cloud services company in its sale to a public strategic acquirer
• Representation of a legal software company in its sale in a private equity transaction
• Representation of a computing services company in its sale to a private equity firm

Capital Markets

• Representation of a medical device company in its $86.25 million initial public offering and its $111 million follow-on offering

FinTech

• Representation of a cryptocurrency exchange with respect to corporate formation matters and its subsequent $182.5 million and $300 million preferred unit financings
• Representation of the corporate venture arm of a large financial services provider in its $1 million Series A preferred stock investment and $1 million convertible note investment in an insurance technology emerging growth company
• Representation of the corporate venture arm of a large financial services provider in its $1 million Series A preferred stock investment in a FinTech data collection emerging growth company
• Representation of the corporate venture arm of a large financial services provider in its $1 million Series D preferred stock investment in an artificial intelligence emerging growth company with applications in the financial services sector
• Representation of a selling stockholder in the sale of an online shopping rewards emerging growth company

SPAC

• Representing cryptocurrency exchange Bakkt Holdings, LLC in its agreement to merge with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings (NASDAQ: VIH), a transaction with an enterprise value of approximately $2.1 billion
• Representation of Ibere Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company targeting global pharmaceutical assets, in connection with its formation and its related SPAC IPO

Professional Affiliations

• Austin Young Lawyers Association
• Austin Bar Association
• Hispanic Bar Association of Austin
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• Texas Wall Street Women
• SXSW Interactive Qualifying Committee Member

Speaking Engagements

• Frequent speaker, presenter and attendee at relevant industry conferences and events, most recently:
  • “Overview of the Venture Capital Financing Lifecycle” (December 7, 2020)
  • “Special Issues in Acquiring Venture-Backed Companies” (November 18, 2020)
  • Mentor during Beam’s Fundraising Essentials: Financial Basics series (November 18, 2020)
  • “Getting Ready to Raise Private Capital – What Founders Need to Know and Shouldn’t be Afraid to Ask,” presented to Quesnay (October 13, 2020)
  • “Create Your Terms & What Investors Want to See,” presented to Geekdom San Antonio (July 30, 2020)
  • “Return of the Down Round: Financing Amidst a Pandemic,” panelist for a webinar in partnership with Innovate Finance (July 28, 2020)
  • “Preparing for a Venture Financing,” presented to Geekdom San Antonio (June 25, 2020)
  • “Preparing for a Venture Financing,” presented to Quake Capital Partners, Austin Program (June 18, 2020)
  • “Corporate Venture Capital Investing” (April 22, 2020)
  • “Considerations for US FinTechs and Emerging Growth Companies in Light of COVID-19,” presented via webinar (April 9, 2020)
  • “Term Sheets 101,” presented to The Emerging Venture Capitalist Association (February 27, 2020)
  • “Term Sheets 101,” presented at Women@Austin’s Demystifying Fundraising: A Boot Camp for Women Entrepreneurs (February 26, 2020)
  • “Corporate Venture Capital Training” (January 29, 2020)
  • “Making Sense of Your Cap Table,” presented at the Women@Austin Boot Camp for Women Entrepreneurs (November 19, 2019)
  • Hispanic National Bar Association – Annual Conference (September 27-28, 2019)
  • Latina Leadership Academy Participant (September 26, 2019)
  • “Top Ten Legal Mistakes Made by Entrepreneurs,” presented to CleanTech Open South Central Region (August 13, 2019)
  • “Funding 1.0: Get Your Startup Off the Ground,” presented to Geekdom San Antonio (February 20, 2019)
  • “Top Legal Mistakes Startups Made and How to Avoid Them,” presented to Founder Institute Austin (November 28, 2018)
  • “Venture Financing: Demystifying Convertible Notes and SAFE Financings,” presented at San Antonio Startup Week (October 25, 2018)
  • “Starting Your Business — The Legal Perspective,” presented to Women@Austin (May 2, 2018)
  • 25th Annual Texas Minority Counsel Program (November 8, 2017)
  • Council on Legal Education Opportunities, Inc. AIE Southwest Conference (July 26, 2017)
  • “Corporate Venture Capital Programs,” presented to the Hispanic National Bar Association Corporate Counsel Division Monthly Meeting (July 9, 2017)
  • Hispanic National Bar Association - Corporate Counsel Conference (March 30, 2017)
  • Hispanic National Bar Association - Corporate Counsel Conference (March 16, 2016)