Agricultural Sciences and Technology

Food & Beverage

Cooley’s lawyers advise cutting-edge companies and sustainability leaders that are introducing the new age in food. We have a full-service team with decades of experience counseling startup and established companies across the supply chain in the agribusiness, food and beverage industries. Our lawyers help clients navigate complex legal issues including intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, strategic transactions and collaboration deals, litigation, venture financing and public offerings. Our team includes former industry professionals, scientists and thought leaders who regularly publish articles and speak at leading conferences on novel legal issues impacting the industry.

We advise clients, from inception to exit and beyond, that are developing game-changing innovations including, for example, alternative proteins like plant-based meat, gene-edited fruits and vegetables that are enhanced through a natural process, organic food and beverage extracts and compositions, new crop varieties, traditional and next-generation plant breeding, vertical farming and crop yield boosting technologies, and apps that connect farmers and chefs directly to consumers. We are proud to serve as strategic advisors to trailblazers committed to sustainable food production.

Representative products and technologies

Representative matters

• AppHarvest, operator of a greenhouse farming company, on its $11 million Series B financing.
• BioConsortia, innovator of microbial solutions for crop improvement on developing their patent portfolio and obtaining six key US patents covering BioConsortia's novel Advanced Microbial Selection (AMS) process.
• CAVU Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on branded food and beverages, on the closing of its second fund at $209 million.
• Evolutionary Genomics in its partnership with Dole Food Company to develop and commercialize banana plant varieties resistant to a fungus that threatens to devastate the banana industry.
• Frubana, a marketplace for fresh farmed produce, on its $25 million Series A financing.
• Hungry, an online marketplace that connects independent chefs with the business and events catering market, on its $19.7 million Series B financing.
• Limagrain and its affiliates including Vilmorin, Vilmorin North America, HM.Clause, and AgReliant Genetics in matters of patent procurement, intellectual property strategy and enforcement.
• Montana State University's College of Agriculture on patent procurement and licensing phases to secure a key patent on agricultural disease-fighting bacterium, BmJ, intended to provide farmers with an effective and natural alternative to traditional chemical crop treatments.
• Pivot Bio, developer of a microbial nitrogen technology that helps farmers boost crop yield and reduce reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, on its IP portfolio and corporate and financing activities, including its recent $100 million Series C financing.
• Premier Citrus on a collaboration agreement relating to applications of their patented laser-delivery technology for pest resistance.
• Sazerac Company in its agreement to buy the Early Times, Canadian Mist and Collingwood whiskey brands, including the Canadian Mist distillery and its production assets, from Brown-Forman.
• Sweetgreen, a startup restaurant with a focus on making food from scratch using fresh ingredients, on its $200 million Series H financing, raising its value to more than $1 billion.
• Upward Farms, an innovator in sustainable vertical farming production technologies, on its $15 million Series A financing.
• Vilmorin North America, leader in sustainable seed production, in patent litigation concerning a proprietary vegetable variety.
• Vivino, provider of an online wine marketplace and wine app, in its $20 million Series C financing.