Must-See for CVC, Business Development, and Startup Executives: Investment Contracts That Look Beyond the First Investment Toward Startup M&A

This seminar focuses on the staged acquisition strategy, in which corporates start with minority investments or CVC deals and later move toward an M&A of the startup. When the future acquisition is not anticipated at the early investment stage, unexpected issues often surface during additional purchases or buyout negotiations, and the session explains the practical points for handling this. Sho Ikeda, director of Sourcing Brothers Inc., and Keita Mashimo, an attorney at ZeLo law office, discuss the key practical aspects of investment agreements, shareholder agreements, due diligence, and governance design from both the business and legal sides in a panel format. They also cover how to choose among CVC investment, capital and business alliances, and M&A, as well as how far a minority shareholder should be involved. It is aimed at CVC and business development staff, people driving open innovation and new business development, heads of corporate planning, investment planning, and legal departments, and startup executives or CFOs considering M&A. The event is held offline at Tokyo Innovation Base (TIB) 2F ROOM, and attendees who complete the post-event survey receive the lecture materials.