During the last decade in Japan, the stock market for start-up companies has developed and entrepreneur-friendly systems and regulatory environments have emerged. With venture capital companies aggressively increasing their investments in Japanese start-up companies, a great number of new start-up companies have been formed and gone through initial public offerings.

Mori Hamada & Matsumoto is able to draw upon its broad base of practice areas advising start-up ventures as they each stage of their development. At the initial stage, the firm assists with the capitalization of start-ups - often through several rounds of financing - and our lawyers are well-versed in the financing structures required by investors to minimize risk and maximize returns. The firm then assists with mergers, acquisitions, or business alliances as the companies expand the scale of their business. Capital markets expertise is then required at the IPO-stage of development. In addition, because start-up companies often find their business opportunities in new industries that no existing company has entered, compliance checks are required to ascertain whether their proposed business would not violate relevant laws and regulations. Legal issues concerning intellectual property rights also need to be addressed, particularly for companies that are entering into businesses related to information technology, biotechnology, or energy.

Mori Hamada & Matsumoto is able to provide a full range of legal services for all sizes of companies.