Leo Batalov

Leo Batalov is a partner at DLA Piper and Global Co-Head of the firm’s Emerging Growth Companies & Venture Capital practice. DLA Piper describes him as a venture capital and M&A lawyer with more than two decades of experience advising high-growth companies, founders, and investors across multiple jurisdictions. His work covers venture capital and private equity investments from seed stage to pre-IPO, cross-border M&A, and general corporate matters.

He is also listed as a partner at s16vc, an early-stage “Founders for Founders” fund that grew out of a founder community started in 2008 at Shmitovsky Lane 16. s16vc says it is backed by more than 150 founders and operators and prefers to invest at Pre-Seed and Seed in companies targeting global, pan-European, and US markets.

Before his current DLA Piper role, third-party professional profiles list Batalov as a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Dewey & LeBoeuf, and Heller Ehrman, and as a member of the Russian Venture Company investment selection committee from 2012 to 2016. He has also been listed as a guest lecturer at Moscow State University, teaching corporate finance and investment transactions.

Batalov holds a JD from the University of Washington School of Law, a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Whitman College, and a Specialist Degree in Economics from Ural State Technical University. He is admitted as an attorney-at-law with the Washington State Bar Association and speaks English and Russian.

• s16vc’s stated focus is early-stage, founder-centric investing: it says it wants to build a “true Founders-for-Founders fund.”
• The firm says: “We like to write the first check at Pre-Seed and Seed stages, investing around $1m on average.”
• s16vc prefers companies targeting global, pan-European, and US markets.
• The firm says it rarely formally leads rounds, but may be the largest or only VC and often commits first before helping founders find a lead.
• s16vc emphasizes access to its founder/operator community: it says there is “no wall” between LPs and portfolio founders and that a partner is on 100% of founder calls.
• Batalov’s DLA Piper practice indicates strong relevance for founders raising VC or growth capital, especially in cross-border technology transactions across the Middle East, Europe, Africa, North America, and Southeast Asia.