Trenton C. Dykes
PartnerGlobal Co-Chair, Technology sector
Managing Partner, Seattle office
“He's a great teacher who takes the time to clearly explain complicated issues in a way that we understand and appreciate.” – Chambers USA
Trenton (Trent) Dykes concentrates on venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate and securities law.
His experience ranges from advising startup companies about formation, venture financings and M&A to representing public companies with SEC compliance, corporate governance and other related issues. Trent has worked on hundreds of seed and venture financings and M&A transactions, and numerous initial and secondary public offerings. Trent also advises on corporate and securities law compliance related to emerging financing trends, among them incubation, accelerator, spinout and convertible securities offerings, such as SAFEs. His clients include individual entrepreneurs, early-stage, venture-backed and public companies and venture capital investors.
Trent is the global co-chair of the firm's technology sector, a member of the national leadership group of the firm's US Emerging Growth and Venture Capital practice, a member of the firm’s Policy Committee, and the Seattle office managing partner.
Trent is an editor and contributor to The Venture Alley, a blog about business and legal issues important to entrepreneurs, startups, venture capitalists and angel investors.
EXPERIENCE
Selected Public and Private Financings
- Edifecs growth equity investment from TA Associates and Francisco Partners
- Starbucks Corporation US$550 million public debt offering
- Northstar Neuroscience US$120 million initial public offering of common stock
- Imperium Renewables US$120 million Series B financing
- Trupanion US$82 million initial public offering of common stock and US$69 million follow-on public offering
- Cappasity Technologies US$56 million offering of simple agreements for future tokens (SAFT)
- Avalanche Energy Designs US $5.1 million Series Seed financing and US$40 million Series A financing
- Arivale US$36 million Series A financing
- PokitDok US$4.3 million Series A financing and US$34 million Series B financing
- The Cumulus Coffee Company US$19.1 Series Seed financing
- Hiya US$18 million Series A financing and Series B financing
- Legwork US$17 million Series A financing
- Tomboy Exchange US$17 million Series B financing
- Pinkberry US$17 million Series B financing
- Trupanion US$15.25 million Series C financing
- Generic Medical Devices US$14 million Series A financing
- Super.ai US$11.8 million Series A financing
- DocuSmart (dba Lexion) US$4.2 million Series Seed financing, US$11 million Series A financing and US$20 million Series B financing
- Integris Software US$3 million Series Seed financing and US$10 million Series A financing
- Botanical Laboratories US$10.5 million debt financing
- AccelByte US$10 million Series A financing and US$60 million Series B financing
- icebrg US$10 million Series A financing
- Micronics US$6 million Series C financing
- Cloud Paper US$3 million Series Seed financing
- Trusted Key Solutions US$3 million Series Seed financing
Selected Mergers and Acquisitions
- Sale of Ekata to Mastercard
- RealNetworks take-private transaction
- Acquisition of 47 Degrees by Xebia Group B.V.
- Acquisition of Oncrawl by BrightEdge Technologies
- Sale of Cornerstone Advisors to Pathstone
- Sale of Otis Wealth to Public
- Sale of Legwork to Planet DDS
- Sale of Magalix to Weavework
- Sale of S2 Systems to Cloudflare
- Sale of Dolly to Updater
- Sale of Pacific Data Partners to LiveRamp
- Sale of AnsweriQ to Freshworks
- Sale of PopCap Games to Electronic Arts
- Sale of Integris Software to OneTrust
- Sale of Trusted Key Solutions to Workday
- Sale of icebrg to Gigamon
- Sale of LeaveLogic to Unum Group
- Sale of CitizenHawk to CT Corporation, a Wolters Kluwer business
- Sale of Clipboard to salesforce.com
- Sale of Noetix to Silverback Enterprise Group
- Sale of Botanical Laboratories to Schwabe North America
- Sale of Micronics to Sony
- Sale of Pinkberry to Kahala Brands
- Acquisition of ZipZapPlay by PopCap Games
- Sale of Northstar Neuroscience assets to St. Jude Medical
- Acquisition of Jaros Technologies by Noetix
- Sale of Kinetix Living to Regence BlueShield
- Sale of Pacific Edge Software to Serena Software
- Sale of NetMotion Wireless to Padcom
- Sale of Topline Solutions to NaviMedix
- Sale of Scout Analytics to ServiceSource International
Trent represents or has represented such companies as:
- AccelByte
- Adaptiva
- Alitheon
- Allen Institute for AI
- Amazon.com
- American Giant
- Array Health Solutions
- Arivale
- Avalanche Energy Designs
- BluOasis
- Botanical Laboratories
- Clipboard
- Cloud Paper
- DocuSmart (dba Lexion)
- Dolls Kill
- Eclypsium
- Edifecs
- Ekata
- Generic Medical Devices
- Healionics
- Hiya
- icebrg
- Imperium Renewables
- Integris Software
- Kernel Labs
- Legwork
- Malleable
- MedBridge
- Micronics
- Mystery (dba Glue)
- Neah Power Systems
- Noetix
- Northstar Neuroscience
- Orbite
- Pacific Edge Software
- Pinkberry
- Pluto VR
- Pokitdok
- PopCap Games
- Pressed Juicery
- Reserved.ai (dba Archera.ai)
- Scout Analytics
- Specter Ops
- Starbucks
- Strike Graph
- Super.ai
- Tignis
- The Cumulus Coffee Company
- TomboyX
- Trupanion
- Versium Analytics
- Whitepages
- Xebia Group B.V.
Trent represents or has represented such venture capital firms and investment banks as:
- Anthos Capital
- Barclays
- Ignition Partners
- Madrona Venture Group
- Maveron
- PenderFund Capital
- Polaris Ventures
- RBC Capital Markets
- SCP
- Sigma Partners
- Stifel
J.D., University of Washington
B.A., University of Washington, Finance, cum laude
Executive Education, DLA Piper Leadership Program, Harvard Business School
Awards
- Chambers USA
- Band 2, Washington Corporate/M&A (2019-2023)
- Band 3, Washington Corporate/M&A (2016-2018)
- Up and Coming, Washington Corporate/M&A (2013-2015)
- Clients under the Corporate/M&A practice say, "Trenton is focused, incredibly smart and talented," adding: "He's a great teacher who takes the time to clearly explain complicated issues in a way that we understand and appreciate."
- "[One] source describes Trenton as "spectacular" — he's extraordinarily efficient, he doesn't waste my time, and he works to save money for us. He's super smart and well respected in the industry." "[A] source reported: I've never worked with someone who's so efficient, productive and understands what startups are trying to do."
- The Legal 500 United States
- Recommended, Venture Capital & Emerging Companies (2015, 2017, 2020-2023)
- Recommended, Fintech (2020-2022)
- The Legal 500 United States, in its Venture Capital & Emerging Companies practice area, noted Trent "is one of the foremost practitioners in the Seattle market," and said that clients have praised him as "the best" [and] "efficient", [having] "strong market knowledge" and "a great negotiator" [who is] "analytical" and "can do the numbers."
- Washington Super Lawyer magazine has named Trent a Super Lawyer every year since 2014, and named a Super Lawyer Rising Star from (2009 to 2013)
Bylines
- Contributing author in Steven Dresner's book "Crowdfunding: A Guide to Raising Capital on the Internet," Bloomberg Financial Series, 2014
- "Demo Days, Pitch Events and the New Reg D," The Venture Alley, September 23, 2013
- "In re Trados: What Happens When Common Gets Nothing?," The Venture Alley, August 16, 2013
- "Understanding Section 280G and Golden Parachute Payments," The Venture Alley, September 5, 2012
- "Choice of Entity: Five Items to Consider When Choosing Your Startup Entity Structure," The Venture Alley, July 6, 2012
- "Establishing Fair Market Value for Purposes of Section 409A and Stock Option Grants," The Venture Alley, March 9, 2012
- "Delaware Franchise Tax Due March 1: Two Methods of Calculation, Two Vastly Different Results," The Venture Alley, February 1, 2012
Seminars
- "Avoid the Blame and (Some of) the Chaos: Anticipate and Address Common Deal Killers," Association of Corporate Counsel Washington State chapter seminar, Seattle, November 7, 2012
- "VC Due Diligence Basics: How to Conduct Investor-Side Due Diligence," Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, University of Washington School of Law, October 17, 2012
- "Back to the Money Game: M&A as an Exit Strategy," Gamer Technology Law Conference, Law Seminars International, October 5, 2012
- "Legal Issues for Startups: 10 Things You Need to Know," Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition, University of Washington Foster Business School, February 9, 2012
Media Mentions
- Mentioned, "Paul Weiss Reps Mastercard's $850M Digital Security Co. Buy," Law 360, April 19, 2021
- Quoted in, "This tech entrepreneur has a novel policy to deter sexual harassment," The Washington Post, August 3, 2017
