Incorporate
Private Limited setup, founders' agreement, vesting and IP assignment — the foundation investors expect to see.
Week 1
Bengaluru · Startup & Venture law
Fund-ready legals for founders in a hurry.
From your first incorporation to your Series A, Corven Counsel turns the legal side of a raise into something you can move through in days, not weeks. Term sheets, cap tables and ESOPs — handled cleanly, explained plainly.
250+rounds & incorporations closed
48 hrstypical first-draft turnaround
15+ yrsat the Bengaluru bar
Cap tableCorven client · post-money
Series A ready
Founders
55%
ESOP pool
13%
Seed investors
20%
Series A lead
12%
Fully dilutedReconciled & investor-clean
No surprises
Founder-firstplain English, no billable-hour theatre
Who we are
A venture boutique that speaks founder.
Corven Counsel was built by lawyers who spent years inside deal rooms watching good rounds stall on avoidable paperwork. We do one thing: the legal work that gets startups incorporated, funded and to the next round without drama.
- Investor-standard docs. SAFEs, SHAs and term sheets your lead's counsel has already seen a hundred times — fewer redlines, faster close.
- One team, start to Series A. The people who set up your cap table are the ones defending it in diligence.
- Free initial consultation. We scope the work before you commit — no obligation, no meter running.
The path
From incorporation to Series A
One partnership that carries you across every legal milestone of building a venture-backed company.
Raise angel / seed
SAFEs, convertible notes or a priced seed round, with a cap table that stays clean as you add cheques.
Angel & Seed
Build the team
ESOP pool sizing, grant letters and vesting that keep early hires motivated and your dilution intentional.
Scale-up
Close Series A
Term-sheet negotiation, diligence, definitive docs and a smooth signing — from LOI to money in the bank.
Series A
What we handle
Legal cover for every stage of the journey
Pick the piece you need today, or bring us on as standing counsel for the whole ride.
Incorporation & setup
Private Limited registration, founders' agreements, share subscription, IP assignment and the day-zero paperwork done right.
- MoA / AoA
- Founder vesting
- IP assignment
SAFEs & convertibles
Angel and pre-seed instruments — India-SAFEs, CCDs and convertible notes drafted to convert cleanly when you price your round.
- iSAFE
- Convertible notes
- Side letters
Seed & Series A rounds
Priced-round documentation end to end: term sheets, SHA, SSA, disclosure schedules and closing — with your investor's counsel.
- Term sheets
- SHA / SSA
- Closing
Cap table & ESOP
Cap-table clean-up and modelling, ESOP pool design, scheme drafting, grant letters and the vesting logic your board can approve.
- Modelling
- ESOP scheme
- Grant letters
Diligence & data rooms
We build the data room investors ask for, run legal diligence, and close the gaps before they become deal-slowing questions.
- Data room
- Reps & warranties
- Gap fixes
Standing counsel
Commercial contracts, hiring paperwork, compliance and the everyday legal questions of a growing team — on a simple monthly retainer.
- Contracts
- Compliance
- Advisory
Deal-ready, always
Your data room, kept investor-clean.
Rounds slip when diligence surfaces surprises. We keep your corporate records, cap table and contracts in a state where an investor can say yes without a two-week detour. When the term sheet lands, you're already ready.
48hTypical first-draft turnaround on core docs
250+Rounds & incorporations closed
1Partner team, start to Series A
0Hidden fees — you scope before you sign
Redlined for youevery clause explained before you sign
Term sheets & cap tables
Understand every clause before you sign it.
Liquidation preference, anti-dilution, pro-rata, drag-along — we translate the term sheet into what it actually means for your ownership and control, then negotiate the points that matter.
- Plain-English mark-ups. A comment on every clause, not just tracked changes you can't decode.
- Dilution you can model. See exactly how each round and the ESOP pool moves your fully-diluted stake.
- We hold the pen. We run the drafting back-and-forth with the investor's lawyers so you can keep building.
Built for speeddrafts in days, not weeks
Made for the pace of a raise
Legal that moves as fast as your round.
Momentum is everything when a term sheet has a deadline. We work in the same tools you do, respond same-day, and treat your close date as ours.
- Same-day responses during an active round — you're never waiting on a callback.
- Shared trackers so you always know what's signed, pending or blocked.
- Fixed-scope quotes agreed up front — no runaway hourly surprises.
Founder stories
Trusted by founders who move fast
★★★★★
“We had a term sheet with a nine-day fuse. Corven had the SHA marked up and the diligence gaps closed before I'd finished telling my co-founder we were funded.”
★★★★★
“They set up our cap table so cleanly that our Series A lead's counsel had almost nothing to flag. That is worth more than founders realise.”
★★★★★
“Finally, lawyers who explain the ESOP maths instead of hiding behind it. Our early team actually understands their grants now.”
The team
On your cap table's side
A small, senior team — the partners you meet are the ones who do the work.
Aditi Ranganathan
Founding Partner
Venture financings and fund formation. 15+ years at the Bengaluru bar advising founders and early-stage funds.
Kabir Sethi
Partner — Corporate & Fundraising
Priced rounds, SAFEs and shareholder agreements. Former in-house counsel at a growth-stage startup.
Neha D'Souza
Partner — ESOP & Cap Tables
ESOP design, cap-table modelling and equity clean-ups. The person your CFO will want on speed dial.
Rohan Iyer
Counsel — Compliance
Regulatory, FEMA and ongoing compliance so your fast-moving company stays on the right side of the rules.
Good to know
Questions founders ask us
Do you work with pre-revenue and first-time founders?
Absolutely — a large part of our work is helping first-time founders incorporate correctly and raise their first angel or seed cheque. Getting the foundation right early is the cheapest insurance a startup can buy.
How fast can you turn around a term sheet or SAFE?
For standard instruments we usually return a first draft or mark-up within about 48 hours, and we prioritise anything with a live deadline. During an active round we respond same-day.
What does an engagement cost?
Your first consultation is free. After we understand the work, we agree a fixed, written scope so you know what you're committing to before anything starts — no surprise hourly bills. Fees are shared on request.
Can you act as our standing counsel after the round closes?
Yes. Many clients keep us on a simple monthly retainer for contracts, hiring paperwork, compliance and the everyday legal questions of a scaling team — the same people who ran your raise.
Do you only work with Bengaluru startups?
We're based in Bengaluru and know the ecosystem intimately, but we act for founders across India and regularly work with overseas investors and diaspora founders raising into Indian entities.
Ready to make your legals fund-ready?
Book a free intro call. We'll tell you what you actually need, what you don't, and how fast we can get it done.