Pre-close · B2B Services

IP Transfer & Licensing Counsel for B2B Services Acquisitions

Structuring IP Transfer & Licensing on B2B services deals, with the structure protection and capital connectivity an independent sponsor actually needs.

EV range $8M to $90M EV EBITDA $2M to $18M Audience Buy-side / Sponsor
The deal context

IP Transfer & Licensing on B2B services deals is one of those workstreams that looks routine on a checklist and decides outcomes in practice.

The typical B2B services platform sits at $8M to $90M EV with EBITDA in the $2M to $18M range. The thesis runs on recurring revenue service platform with bolt-on operators. Most B2B services deals look better in the CIM than in the data room. Skip the CIM, ask for the contracts.

The moves

How IP Transfer & Licensing actually gets structured.

  1. Identify all IP, including informal employee-inventor work product.

  2. Pull assignments and works-for-hire records, with gaps remediated pre-close.

  3. Address open-source license compliance in any software stack.

  4. Plan trademark assignment recordation and continuation filings.

  5. In B2B services, layer in MSA assignability mapped customer-by-customer as part of the IP Transfer & Licensing workstream.

The common mistake

Assuming the company owns its IP because the website says so. Without paper, ownership is a hope.

Jason's take
"Every piece of IP in the deal needs a chain of title. Find the gaps before the buyer's counsel does."
Jason Powell · IP Transfer & Licensing
Capital after close

The deal is one thing. The capital that opens up after close is another.

Capital after close is where the IRR actually gets made. The right introductions at month nine through month thirty are where this practice works as hard as it does at the LOI.

MONTH 18
Senior refi
MONTH 24
Dividend recap
MONTH 36
Growth equity
YEAR 4–5
Strategic exit
TALK TO JASON

An LOI on the desk, a B2B services target, and a IP Transfer & Licensing question worth a real conversation.

Twenty minutes of practitioner-grade input from a securities attorney whose first move is to read the deal, not the engagement letter.