Food + Agriculture

Deere & Company (NYSE) in a series of acquisitions, divestitures, and commercial collaborations in the precision ag space with Monsanto among others.

Driscolls, one of the leading growers of berries in the United States for over 100 years, in the development and implementation of its plant IP strategies.

Farmland Partners (NYSE) in its initial public offering, two secondary offerings, and acquisition of American Farmland Partners (NYSE), as well as in more than $400 million of property acquisitions.

Pontifax Global Food and Agricultural Technology Fund as lead investor in a $17 million Series B financing by Blue River Technology, a robotic, machine-learning crop management platform, and in connection with the sale of Blue River to Deere & Company for $305 million, as well as representing Pontifax in the $39 million Series B financing of Inocucor Technologies, an innovator and producer of sustainable biological crop inputs.

SoftBank Vision Fund as lead investor in the $200 million Series B financing of Plenty, an indoor farming startup, in the largest agtech investment at the time.

University of California, Davis, in delivering a resounding win in its landmark patent infringement lawsuit, an “epic battle over the right to breed sweeter and juicier strawberries” (The Sacramento Bee), in its federal lawsuit against two former UC Davis strawberry breeders and the private breeding company they created with UC-owned plants. We also serve as patent strategists for UC Davis and have drafted and prosecuted numerous PVP certificates, PBR, and plant patent applications to grant.

VoloAgri, a vegetable seed technology and breeding company, as corporate and intellectual property counsel, including in its $69 million Series C financing led by Temasek and its worldwide plant IP strategies.