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Mr Advani is the Founder and Managing Partner of Inventus Law, Inc. (www.inventuslaw.com), a Corporate and Intellectual Property Law Firm headquartered in Palo Alto that specializes in the representation of early stage startup companies, venture funds, institutional angel investors and many prominent angel investors in silicon-valley and India.  In the last 12 years practicing law in Silicon Valley, Mr. Advani has represented more than 700 startup companies, and numerous founders, venture capital investors, angel investors, and venture lending and leasing sources on issues relating to formation, founder issues, consulting and advisory arrangements, capital structuring, angel financings, venture financings, debt financings, leasing, strategic licensing and customer arrangements, and mergers and acquisitions.  He also has an active practice representing India-focused public companies, investment banks, financial institutions and venture funds on acquisitions, financings, joint ventures and other strategic transactions.

Prior to starting Inventus Law in 2009, Mr Advani was of counsel and Head of India Practice in the Menlo Park offices of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.   Before joining Orrick, Mr. Advani was General Counsel and Vice President of SemIndia, a pioneering effort to establish semiconductor manufacturing in India. As General Counsel for SemIndia, Mr. Advani was responsible for coordinating with the Government of India in formulating a comprehensive semiconductor policy for India as well as with the State of Andhra Pradesh in structuring Fab City in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.   Prior to joining SemIndia, Mr. Advani was a Senior Associate in the Silicon Valley offices of Cooley Godward where his practice focused on representation of emerging companies and the venture funds and banks that finance those companies. Mr. Advani began his legal career as an attorney in India where he practiced for a number of years at the High Court of Delhi.

Mr. Advani has a Bachelor of Commerce (with honors) from Delhi University, Bachelor of Laws from the Faculty of Law, Delhi University, and a Master of Laws from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C.

Mr. Advani is licensed to practice law in California, New York and India.

Representative Transactions:

• Represent U.S. and India based, Agni Corporation (www.agnicorporation.com), on venture financing, corporate structuring, employment and other corporate matters in India, United States, and other jurisdictions.
• Represent Delhi based e-commerce company, Clues Network (www.shopclues.com), on U.S. and India corporate, employment, financing and transactional matters.
• Represent U.S. and India based, Sales Portal, Inc. (salesportal.com), on venture financing, corporate structuring, employment and other corporate matters in India and Silicon Valley.
• Currently counseling founders of 3 different Silicon Valley-based companies on negotiating term sheets from Sand Hill based venture capital firms.
• Represented Interviewstreet (www.interviewstreet.com) on its angel financing and venture financings from Silicon Valley based investors; continue to counsel the company and management team on India and U.S. corporate and transactional matters.
• Represented Silicon Valley based Citrusleaf, Inc. (www.citrusleaf.com), on multiple rounds of venture investments from silicon valley based venture funds.
• Represent Mumbai based Komli Media, Inc. (www.komli.com) on India and U.S. corporate and transactional matters; represent the company on commercial agreements, customer and licensing arrangements.
• Represented Komli Media, Inc. on different acquisition transactions in Australia, U.K., India and United States.
• Lead Investor counsel in connection with Series A financing of Qwiki, Inc. (www.qwiki.com), a leading technology company in Palo Alto.
• Represent silicon valley based, PubMatic, Inc. (www.pubmatic.com), on various acquisition, licensing and other transactional matters.
• Represent Willow TV (www.willow.tv) on various corporate and licensing matters.
• Represent Bodhtree, Inc. (www.bodhtree.com) on various corporate and commercial transactions.
• Counsel silicon valley based appbackr (www.appbackr.com) on corporate, financing and transactional matters.
• Represent Bangalore based Spot, Inc. (www.sportinc.co) on venture financing and corporate matters in India and U.S.
• Represent Bangalore based GrexIt, Inc. (www.grexit.com) on corporate and strategic matters in India and U.S.
• Representing Japan based company in its strategic investments in Seattle based U.S. public company.
• Represented a Hong Kong-based company in its acquisition of a San Francisco-based business
• Representing Silicon Valley based media company on its sale to a U.K. based public media company.
• Representing an India-based solar company in connection with debt financing with IFC and U.S. ExIm Bank.
• Represented Lightspeed Venture Partners, Gabriel Venture Partners, Venrock, Charles River Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Foundation Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and other prominent venture firms on their investments.
• Represented Silicon Valley Bank and Comerica Bank on various debt financing transactions.
• Representing NOVA Chemicals on its joint venture with Reliance Industries Limited in India.
• Represented a Texas-based NCI Group on its various joint venture transactions with large business houses in India.
• Representing a large Indian business house on its acquisition transactions in the U.S.
• Represent SemIndia on various matters, including strategic partnerships, acquisitions and financing arrangements.
• Counsel Inca Informatics, NDTV Imagine, NEO Cricket and other Indian companies on structuring U.S. operations.
• Representing an India based telecom company in connection with a reverse merger with a U.S. public company. 
• Counsel 100’s of founding teams of technology companies in the Bay Area and India on issues ranging from initial capital structuring, founder issues, option plans, employment matters, angel financings and venture financings.

Recent Speaking Engagements:

• Moderator, NASABA panel on M&A in India, 2007.
• Moderator, India – Environment for Mergers and Acquisitions, 2007.
• Speaker, IIT's Annual Conference, 2007-2008.
• Speaker and Panelist, TiE SIG on Legal Issues for StartUp Companies, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. 
• Speaker, TIE-SoCal Panel on Media and Entertainment, 2008.
• Moderator, TiECon Panel on Funding a Company, 2008.
• Presenter on Doing Business in the U.S. to the visiting NASSCOM Delegation at SDForum, 2008.
• Moderator, Discussion on Angel Investments with Sandhill Angels, Band of Angels and SAP Ventures, 2009.
• Moderator, Entrepreneurship in India, Stanford GSB Annual Conference, 2009.
• Presenter, TiE Interconnect, January, 2009 and July, 2009, on “Legal issues for startup ventures”.
• Moderator, TiECon Panel on “Lessons from Past Recessions”, 2009.
• Lecture to BITS, Pilani on legal issues for startup ventures, September, 2009.
• Presenter, Lean and Mean Startup Meetup session, San Francisco, September, 2009.
• Continuing speaker at multiple sessions organized by SV Entrepreneurs, 2010, 2011, 2012.

Bar Memberships:

• Member of California State Bar, American Bar Association, New York State Bar and Delhi Bar Council.

Languages:

•  Hindi, Sindhi & Punjabi.