Dawn H. Belt

Belt has advised some of the world’s most innovative technology companies, from established industry leaders to rising startups, on business strategy, venture capital financing, mergers and acquisitions, public offerings, corporate governance and Securities and Exchange Commission compliance.

In the last two years, Belt has handled the $100 million financing for business payment network Bill.com, Buzzfeed Inc.’s $200 million financing, GoPro Inc.’s $175 million convertible senior notes offer, ServiceNow Inc.’s $750 million convertible senior notes offering and Nimble Storage’s complex $1.2 billion acquisition by Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

“My role has changed from a very junior person at the firm to leading big transactions now,” Belt said. “What I really love about this job is I learn something new every day and I get better.”

Working on more complicated transactions has allowed Belt to continue developing her craft.

Similar with the BuzzFeed and Bill.com deals, these kind of late-stage private company financings are very typical of Belt’s practice.

“It’s a highly regulated space,” she said. “All the investors are big banks.”

In working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., Belt said there is always more to learn and more complex issues to think about. This includes dealing with aspects of those entities’ own regulatory compliance and being able to keep the client functioning and moving similar to that of a startup company. With Bill.com’s financing, JPMorgan Chase and Temasek led the round with participation from the lead investors in each of the previous rounds, and will use the funds to accelerate its distribution into banks and accounting firms, according to Fenwick.

“It’s that balancing of trying to keep nimble and keep growing and not stifle that,” Belt said.

Belt played a major role in Nimble’s acquisition by Hewlett Packard, which, according to Fenwick, is considered one of the largest U.S. tech deals of 2017, since the combination creates an industry leader in the growing flash storage market, with predictive analytics and a superior operational and support experience. These legal negotiations were led by an all-woman team from Fenwick and Nimble, according to the firm, and it was an “intense, fast-paced deal.”

“My practice really is about taking early-tech companies, growing them and getting them to a good exit,” she said.

— Matthew Sanderson