orrison Foerster's lawyers recently experienced a fond flashback of the days of high-flying deals when they closed a $15.5 million second round of financing for Cavium Networks in just 10 days.
Back when the economy was hot, lawyers could count on closing a round of funding in two or three days. But that pace has slowed considerably as the times have grown more austere.
So imagine MoFo associate Brian McAllister's surprise when Cavium closed its latest round of financing last month.
"It was a nice return to the past," said McAllister. MoFo's Palo Alto office represented Cavium with assistance from partner Richard Scudellari and associates Randolph McCalla and Jina Kim.
San Jose-based Cavium develops chips that perform security encryption functions on the Internet. "Cavium was in a unique position as a start-up because they had a lot of interest going into the second round," McAllister said. He also noted that Cavium could have received funding sooner, but management knew that the company wouldn't have trouble finding funding with the company's technology.
The company's second round included new investor Menlo Ventures with participation by existing investors Alliance Ventures and Diamondhead Ventures. MoFo also represented Cavium when it received $8 million in June during its first round of funding.
McAllister said that while the speed and increased valuation of the deal were nice perks to work with, what sealed the deal for him was that everyone, including the lawyers and the business folk, got along.
"It's so easy to be negative these days, but it was a relief to work on a deal where everyone works together for a common goal and gets along," said McAllister.
