Kristin Peardon

Cooley advised G2.com, a software review site, on its $157 million Series D financing round, which brings its valuation to $1.1 billion. Lawyers Jon Gavenman and Sepideh Mousakhani led the Cooley team advising G2.com on the round.

Cooley advised Avidity Biosciences on its $100 million Series C financing round. Lawyers Josh Seidenfeld, Matt Fleming, Jeremy Gentile and Darwin Ng led the Cooley team advising the company. Avidity is pioneering antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates for the treatment of rare muscle disorders and other serious diseases. The company’s lead research program addresses myotonic dystrophy type I, a disease with no approved treatment options. 

Cooley advised Personalis on its $154.9 million initial public offering of 9,109,725 shares of common stock, including full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. Personalis, whose securities now trade on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol “PSNL,” is a growing cancer genomics company. Partners James Kitch and Michael Tenta led the Cooley team.

Cooley advised Avidity Biosciences, Inc., a privately-held biotech company pioneering Antibody Oligonucleotide Conjugates (AOC™), on its global licensing and research collaboration with Eli Lilly focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of potential new medicines in immunology and other select indications for up to $440 million with $35 million upfront.

On July 8, 2016, the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, or HSR, for Rovi's proposed $1.1 billion acquisition of TiVo. Early termination is granted if the FTC and DOJ have completed their regulatory review and determine that no enforcement action is necessary. The proposed acquisition, which was announced on April 29, 2016, is subject to additional customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Q3 of 2016.

The Deal reported on June 16 that Rovi refiled for clearance under HSR to give antitrust officials another month to decide whether to launch an extended investigation of the merger or to let it close without further scrutiny.

Rovi creates personalized and data-driven ways for viewers to discover the right entertainment and for providers to discover the right audiences, leading innovation in content discovery since introduction of the first on-screen program guide in 1981. TiVo, the inventor of the DVR, offers innovative cloud-based Software-as-a-Service solutions that enable viewers to consume content across multiple screens in and out of the home. The combined company will have worldwide portfolios of 6,000+ patents and pending applications.

Cooley is advising Rovi on both the acquisition and the antitrust aspects of the transaction.