Adv. Moshe G. Medved: “Cryptocurrencies? No one talks about it”!

Moshe Medved provides legal services to the firm’s clients in the corporate, VC, high-tech, M&A, and intellectual property department with a focus on multinational commercial transactions, start-ups and managing foreign investments and family wealth in Israel.

Israeli Innovation Week in Ukraine (IIWU) will bring together more than 600 top managers, IT entrepreneurs, government representatives, start-ups, venture capital investors and business angels. It will be a first tech week of business events and projects in Ukraine dedicated to Israeli-Ukrainian technologies and innovations. The IIWU will be held from 29 till 31 of October 2019.

About what he will speak on 30 of October? What he think about cryptocurrencies, high tech law and a lot of other useful information you can read in Moshe new interview.

👉 Tickets: http://bit.ly/UIIS2019

Learn more: uiisummit.com

JB: What is it high tech law?

MM: I deal with IT startups. I represent  that their are active and around the world the develop technology. I do their local law issues, I deal with their joint venture agreements, all around the world, they’re financing rounds employment, you know, setting up subsidiaries in the States or in Europe and then finally some of these companies get bought and there’s an exit transaction or an in a transaction and we help them throughout it on legal sides of things that’s about 50 percent of my business. Another 50% of my business, is to represent investors. I represent global investors and local investors, both individuals that are called angel investors and funds, small micro funds ten, twenty, fifty, million dollars, but also bigger funds, that have you know hundred fifty million ,dollars like Flint cap that knows my client global founders capital. It’s a billion dollar fund they invest in Israeli companies and I represent them as a digital horizon which is another Russian fund. I represent, a lot of you know American, Canadian, Russian, and also some Ukrainian, investors that invest in Israel and we draft the share purchase agreements for them the convertible loan agreements safe simple agreements for future equity, all the legal instruments that allow them to bring money in to Israeli companies and purchase equity and shares.

JB:Have you experienced to work with internet companies?

MM: I have experience working with FinTech  and Israeli companies and companies that are more global and want to invest in Israeli or I have got  companies that have partnerships with local Israeli company the day, because your lawyer you deal a little bit less with the technology of the company. Okay meaning, yes you have to be knowledgeable enough to understand the field the IP issues the different licensing agreements and so on and so forth, but at the end of the day we primarily work with word and we’re dealing with the same agreements that connect between the parties. 

JB: What do you say about cryptocurrencies?

MM:  Cryptocurrencies have got big hype about them, the same way about five years ago I was representing a lot of foreign exchange companies okay, you know, like social Forex companies, like eToro and whatever, so I had a couple of those clients there  it was unregulated regulated Forex when they were buying binary options then binary options became illegal in Israel. So there was no longer binary options and then people moved on to cryptocurrency companies into AI cos that was bigger about a year ago. I think in Israel we’ve seen a lot of companies move away shift away from that. No one talks about it anymore and I see a lot of players, but I do see a lot of blockchain technology, blockchain technology for things not with currencies 

JB: Okay, about what – you’ll speak in Kyiv?

MM: So I am looking forward to doing in Kyiv. In the conference. You know either as my keynote speech or you know, as a workshop is to basically explain to local companies how to do business in Israel and how a local Israeli lawyer is part of a bigger international firm in a woman part of the one of the largest firms in Israel with 350 lawyers. We represent a lot of international clients and we could help them do business in Israel, so if anyone is looking into business in Israel having a local Ukrainian, okay a Russian lawyer isn’t enough you need a local Israeli lawyer to help you do business in Israel and same for investors. If you’re an investor and you want to do a deal,  you want to buy shares in a company put a million dollars half a million dollars and buy some shares in an Israeli company, then you need local representation, because, if you don’t have local representation then you don’t have protection and the kind of protection I give my clients, is to make sure they get zero rights they make sure they get on the board of the directors. Make sure they get preferred shares they get liquidation preference they get pledges securities to. Make sure they don’t put the money, because they’re from there far away and the Israeli company just runs away with their money without control, so I allow local representation, which brings control to the investors. I would would be basically explaining what the different steps are in a deal . I want to look out for and how an Israeli lawyer can help you you know from the due diligence level through the transaction document, level through the negotiation, level and up to closing and post closing.

JB:  What can you advise to Ukrainian small business that want to have partnership with Israel business ?

MM:   I say they need to hire a local partner, someone who could help you know learn the market, study in the market, understand the needs of the Israeli market, understand what they can offer to an Israeli business as well and then, someone locally, who could help them negotiate, we’re not so far away we’re close the Ukraine is doing half hours away  the culture is very similar there’s a lot of you sorts of Eastern European or Russian speaking and Ukrainian speaking individuals that live here in Israel. It’s easy to do business and , if they just go out of their comfort zone and step into Israel and how make sure they have a local sub one who can help them see things and gauge opportunities then I think it’s a great idea to make business to do business . If you try doing business sort of from email out having any kind of feet on the ground, it won’t work, you need to either come here yourself have meetings. Israliens need to come to Kyiv have meetings. You need to hire someone local in Kyiv there there’s a lot of work for finders and for agents here 

JB: I think people call Israel people startup nation. How do you think Ukrainians – nation of what?

MM: I think the Ukrainian is a nation of smart people that have a lot of potential. They have a lot of strong a sort of traditional industries whether it’s metal or farming or natural resources. I think that you know, if you implement Israeli technology or learn from Israeli companies, how to do thing.Learn and mean and fast and think out of the box that there could be a lot of good collaboration. You have space you have infrastructure and we could bring the technology and you could do things together.

JB: Okay  see you in October 

   MM:  See you in in October. I’m looking forward to the conference then I hope you’ll be there listen to my speech.