As a seasoned corporate attorney, Joe’s practice focuses on the representation of entrepreneurs, technology start-ups, and emerging companies from formation through liquidity event. Acting as an outside general counsel, he routinely advises clients through angel and venture capital financings, and guides them through a range of other transactions including bank financings, commercial contracts, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions.
Active in the Greater Boston venture capital community, Joe serves on the board of directors of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, and has been a judge and a mentor for the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, MassChallenge, and the NEBA (f.k.a. SBANE) New England Innovation Awards.
Before joining Morse, Joe was a corporate associate at Bingham McCutchen LLP in Boston. Prior to his legal career, Joe was a management consultant for a Cambridge firm that advised companies in the transportation and chemical fields.
Representative Matters
- Represented V.I. Laboratories, Inc., a leading global software intelligence solutions provider, in connection with its acquisition of Malta-based Trackerbird Limited, a software usage analytics company.
- Represented Virgin Pulse, a habits-focused, corporate wellness company, in a $92,000,000 venture capital financing from investors including Insight Venture Partners and Virgin Group.
- Represented Agrivida, Inc., a biotechnology company developing integrated enzyme solutions for the animal nutrition and health, energy and consumer products industries, in connection with several rounds of venture capital financing from investors including ARCH Venture Partners, Cultivian Sandbox Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers and Bright Capital.
- Represented Demiurge Studios, Inc., an independent game developer, in its acquisition by SEGA Networks, a division of a multinational video game developer, publisher, and interactive entertainment company.
- Represented V.I. Laboratories, Inc., a tech company that sells software to help companies recover lost revenue due to software piracy, in connection with several rounds of venture capital financing from investors including Ascent Venture Partners, Core Capital Partners and Rockford Capital.
- Represented OYO Sportstoys, Inc., a fan engagement company in the sports consumer marketplace, targeting the youth fan and collector markets, in connection with several rounds of venture capital financing from investors including Mandalay Sports Media, Atlas Venture and Boston Seed.
- Represented Seatwave Inc., an online ticket marketplace for buying and selling tickets to music, sporting and cultural events (acquired by Ticketmaster), in connection with its acquisition of the live music discovery app Timbre.
- Represented Crocodoc, Inc., a cloud-based provider of HTML5 document viewing software for web and mobile platforms, in its acquisition by Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX), a leading cloud storage company and content sharing platform.
- Represented MPAY Inc., a SaaS solutions provider delivering comprehensive human capital management solutions, in connection with several acquisitions of payroll processing businesses.
- Represented Seatwave Inc., an online ticket marketplace for buying and selling tickets to music, sporting and cultural events (acquired by Ticketmaster), in connection with several rounds of venture capital financing from investors including Accel Partners, Atlas Venture, Fidelity Ventures and Mangrove Capital Partners.
- Represented Crocodoc, Inc., a cloud-based provider of HTML5 document viewing software for web and mobile platforms (acquired by Box, Inc. (NYSE:BOX)), in several rounds of financing from prominent angel and early stage investors including Y Combinator, SV Angel and 500 Startups.
- Represented Lawrence Pumps, Inc., a privately owned manufacturer of highly engineered critical service centrifugal pumps used in the gas and oil industries, in its sale to Flowserve. (NYSE:FLS)
- Represented Arlington Storage Company, LLC, developer of underground natural gas storage facilities, in its acquisition by Inergy, LP, (NASDAQ:NRGY).
Outside the Office
Joe lives on the South Shore in Norwell. He is a big music fan and can often be found at concert venues around the Boston area checking out new local bands or the world tour of one of his longtime favorites.
Publications
Massachusetts Seeks Comment on Intrastate Crowdfunding Rule
Delaware Case Confirms Validity of CEO’s Removal
Delaware Clarifies Limited Liability of Independent Directors
Delaware Court Rules that Pre-Merger Attorney-Client Communications Pass to the Buyer in a Merger
Speaking Engagements
Presenter, Legal Issues for Startups, MIT Enterprise Forum, Spring 2018 Start Smart Class for Entrepreneurs
Presenter, Legal Issues for Startups, MIT Enterprise Forum, Summer 2017 Start Smart Class for Entrepreneurs
Presenter, Legal Issues for Startups, MIT Enterprise Forum, Spring 2016 Start Smart Class for Entrepreneurs
Presenter, Fundamentals of Raising Startup Capital Through the Internet, MCLE
Panelist, Symposium on Crowdfunding, Quincy College
Presenter, SEC’s Proposed Rules for Crowdfunding, Boston Bar Association
Presenter, The Money Game Part One: Financing, The Law of Digital Games, Law Seminars International
Presenter, Choice of Business Entity and Tax Basics, Babson College
News & Insights
2023 VC Deals
2019-2023 M&A Deals
2022 M&A Deals
2022 VC Deals
Morse Serves as Counsel to Agrivida in Acquisition by Novus International, Inc.
2021 VC Deals
2021 M&A Deals
2017 – 2020 M&A Deals
2020 VC Deals
2019 M&A Deals
2019 VC Deals
Morse Serves as Counsel to WinterWyman in Acquisition by Planet Group
2017 M&A Deals
2017 VC Deals
2016 M&A Deals
2015 M&A Deals
VIDEO: M&A Clips
Delaware Clarifies Limited Liability of Independent Directors
Delaware Case Confirms Validity of CEO’s Removal
Events
Corporate Venture Capital: Unique Opportunities and Special Considerations for Startup Companies
2018 VC and M&A Forum
Issuance of Founders’ Equity: What’s the Right Slice of Pie?
Behind the Curtain: An inside look into the operations of VC firms
Tales from the Trenches: Reflections on Successful Exits
Series A Venture Capital Financing: A Review of 2016 and A Look Forward to 2017
- MA Rising Stars 2009
