Sarah Axtell counsels public and private companies at every stage of their corporate life cycles, with a focus on advising technology companies and leading initial public offerings and other capital-raising transactions.
Drawing on her broad background in corporate and securities law, Ms. Axtell helps clients grow their businesses from startup to IPO, and beyond. She brings particular experience handling transactional and corporate governance matters on behalf of growth-stage companies, including leading tech innovators. She focuses on capital markets transactions. Ms. Axtell also represents venture capitalists and investment banks involved in private and public stock offerings.
Her company-side work encompasses:
- Corporate governance
- Public offerings
- General corporate representation and counseling
- Public company representation
- Venture capital financings
- Mergers and acquisitions
Ms. Axtell is frequently recognized for her practice work by legal and industry publications, including Law360 (which named her a 2020 Capital Markets Rising Star) and the Daily Journal (which selected her as California Attorney of the Year in 2020).
Ms. Axtell’s experience includes advising:
- Morgan Stanley in the US$130 million initial public offering of NerdWallet
- Thumbtack in its US$275 million investment
- Kholsa Ventures in its initial public offerings of Khosla Ventures Acquisition Co., Khosla Ventures Acquisition Co. II, and Khosla Ventures Acquisition Co. III
- Goldman Sachs in the US$4.55 billion initial public offering of Coupang
- Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley in the US$3.9 billion initial public offering of Snowflake*
- Slack in its direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange and its US$862.5 million 144A convertible note offering*
- Vlocity in its acquisition by Salesforce*
- J.P. Morgan and the underwriters in the US$2.6 billion initial public offering of Lyft*
- Okta in its:
- US$6.5 billion acquisition of Auth0
- US$200 million initial public offering and 144A convertible notes offerings of US$345 million and US$1 billion*
- Twilio in its US$172 million initial public offering, follow-on offerings of US$320 million and US$1 billion, and US$500 million 144A convertible note offering*
- Atlassian in its US$462 million initial public offering and US$1 billion 144A convertible note offering*
- Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, and J.P. Morgan in the US$201 million initial public offering of Box*
- Opower in its US$116 million initial public offering and US$532 million sale to Oracle*
- Guidewire Software in its US$389 million and US$260 million follow-on public offerings*
- Xoom in its US$101 million initial public offering and US$124 million follow-on offering*
- J.P. Morgan in the US$120 million initial public offering and US$113.62 million follow-on offering of Penumbra*
- Luxe Valet in its acquisition by Volvo Car Corporation*
- Tomfoolery in its acquisition by Yahoo!*
- Nexgate in its acquisition by Proofpoint*
- Fluidic in its strategic transaction and investment from Nant Capital*
*Matter handled prior to joining Latham