Bio

Alexei Cowett is a senior member of Venable's Corporate Group and the head of the firm's Growth Companies Practice. Alexei represents growth companies throughout their investment life cycle – from early-stage seed, Series A and B financings, to late-stage growth financings and ultimately exit transactions. In addition to his growth companies practice, he represents public and private companies in sophisticated corporate transactions, including domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships and equity, debt, and esoteric financings. For a number of his clients, Alexei serves as outside general counsel, managing their full range of legal needs. He has built a reputation as a fierce advocate for the interests of his growth company clients, their founders, and existing investors. He also takes a proactive approach to financings and other transactions, generally developing and driving the terms of the deals. Unlike many of his peers among leading financing counsel, Alexei almost exclusively represents companies in financings and not the investment community. Alexei's passion for growth companies extends beyond service as an outside advisor. He was a senior executive with two prominent growth companies, the first of which raised in excess of $60 million and the second of which raised in excess of $240 million. In these roles, he was a senior corporate officer with oversight of legal affairs and had operational focus on corporate development, strategic alliances, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions. As such, he structured and negotiated his company's most important transactions. Throughout his career, he has represented companies that are first to market with disruptive products, services, or technologies. Accordingly, he has a heightened awareness of the competitive landscape and the execution and regulatory risks facing such companies. His subject matter knowledge spans traditional and emerging industries, including information technology, e-commerce, biotech, pharma and healthcare, consumer products, entertainment, media and telecom, energy, and financial services. He has advised on more than $60 billion in closed transactions for public and private equity- and venture-backed companies and investment funds. Alexei is an active member in the investment community, coaching up-and-coming growth companies. He serves on the board of directors of MAVA, which brings together innovators, companies, corporate partners, private capital, and key advisors on the East Coast to help build successful businesses from start-up to exit. He is also a member of the executive advisory board of TechWeek. From 2004 to 2014, Alexei served as an economic development commissioner for Arlington County, Virginia. His work as a commissioner focused on improving the regulatory climate for business and increasing the county's economic competitiveness. Prior to joining Venable, Alexei was a founding partner of a boutique corporate and litigation law firm. He previously practiced at Davis Polk and Greenberg Traurig.