For any Startup that has been incorporated or has a disrupting idea and/or is in the planning stage; it is always advisable to consult a lawyer in the initial stages itself as there are many legal & regulatory issues that should be addressed to avoid conflicts and hassles later on. Furthermore, the Founders or the Entrepreneurs should focus on giving wings to their ideas & running their startup business while competent start-up lawyers take care of all the legal compliances and aspects like the founders’ legal rights, govt. and domain licenses, local laws, agreements with users and vendors, terms of use, privacy policies and many other related legal processes.
Start-up Laws is a niche area of practice, which most traditional lawyers & law firms hardly have any expertise in. Lexmantra, with deep roots and connections to the startup ecosystem, is one of the very law firms in Eastern India, and probably the only one in Odisha to specialize in Start-up Laws. Founder Partners of the firm have been themselves entrepreneurs, investors and have spent considerable time involved in developed ecosystem such as US & Hong Kong. It has built a solid reputation and has been rated as one of the best law firm for start-ups.
The Bhubaneswar based start-up advises & mentors a number of start-up entrepreneurs, small and growing businesses, social business enterprises, non-profit organizations, impact investors and donor organizations- both Indian and foreign – on a range of business strategy, legal, regulatory and corporate governance issues in India.
Working at all the possible stages of a start-up, it provides a broad range of services to emerging and start-up companies in both the tech and non-tech sectors.
Service offerings for Entrepreneurs/ Start-up Businesses by LexMantra
- Intellectual Property Rights – Name, Logo and Product Protection: Helping clients in protecting their patents, trademarks and brand identity from the day they start operations.
- Identify the most suitable mode of establishment of business
- Preparation and Filing the necessary documents
- Shareholder or Operating Agreements
- Non-compete agreements with employees
- Customer/Vendor/service Contracts
- Negotiation with investors, capital structuring
- Negotiating Term-sheets on behalf of the start-up ventures/entrepreneurs
- Employee incentive schemes – ESOPs
- Tax Advisory
- Terms of use, Disclaimers and privacy policy, etc.
It also regularly engages with Ministries in the Government of India, Odisha & Chattisgarh state governments, other agencies and instrumentalities of the state, to advice on proposed legislation and regulation, assist in legislative drafting and provide independent critical analyses of existing law and policy with recommendations for reform. The firm also has retainer arrangements with various companies and has dedicated associates to assist the company in legal and statutory requirements such as:-
● Incorporating a company in India
● Opening a Branch/Project/Liaison Office in India
● Setting up Joint Ventures in India
● Setting up a Subsidiary in India
● Setting up Outsourcing units in India
● Registration with various Government authorities
LexMantra’s focuses on some core areas like,
Businesses: It works with the business from ideation to exit; helping in structuring the company, setting up cross border entities, handling regulatory compliance, managing relationship with employees, customers, vendors and other parties, protect intellectual property and dealing with funding and exit scenarios.
Investors: The firm represents private equity and venture capital firms in relation to all aspects of their business, conducting legal due diligences, structuring and organizing fund sponsors and investment of their funds, financing, exiting transactions, negotiating and drafting Shareholders Agreement, Share Subscription cum Share Purchase Agreements.
Accelerators /Incubators: It has recently started working with accelerators, helping structure the program, get statutory clearances, set up the investment vehicles, and work with the portfolio companies to enable the success of the program.
