Startup
What a SAFE actually costs you at the priced round
Founders treat the SAFE as deferred dilution. It is deferred arithmetic — and the arithmetic is rarely in your favour.
AOAdaeze N. Obi
01 — Practice area
Startup and venture financing lawyers in Lagos
We act for founders from incorporation through to Series C — the CAC filings, the SAFE that converts three rounds later, the option pool nobody modelled, and the shareholders’ agreement that decides who can block a sale. Most of what damages a cap table is signed early, quickly, and without advice.
Company formation and CAC filings
Incorporation at the Corporate Affairs Commission, share structure, directors and the post-incorporation filings that investors will diligence two years later. We set the structure up so a foreign investor can put money in without restructuring first.
SAFEs, convertible notes and priced rounds
Drafting and negotiating pre-seed and seed instruments, modelling what they convert to, and papering the priced round when it comes. We tell founders what a valuation cap costs them at conversion before they sign, not after.
ESOPs and founder arrangements
Option pools sized against the next round rather than the last, vesting and cliff terms, founder restricted stock, and the departure provisions that stop a co-founder leaving with 30% of the company.
Investor negotiation and due diligence
Term sheet negotiation, data room preparation, and clearing the diligence findings that stall closings — unsigned board resolutions, untraceable option grants, and IP that was never assigned to the company.
Common questions
How much does it cost to incorporate a startup in Nigeria?
CAC filing fees depend on share capital, and professional fees depend on how much structuring the company needs. We quote a fixed fee for incorporation and tell you the disbursements separately, before we start.
Should my Nigerian startup incorporate in Delaware?
It depends on where your investors are and where your revenue is. A Delaware or Mauritius holding company over a Nigerian operating company is common for dollar-denominated raises, but it adds cost and filing obligations. We will tell you plainly if you do not need one yet.
What is the difference between a pre-money and post-money SAFE?
Under a post-money SAFE the investor’s percentage is fixed at signature and every later SAFE dilutes only the founders. Under a pre-money SAFE that dilution is shared. If your round will have several tranches, that single word matters more than the valuation cap.
Writing on startup
All writing →Who you would work with
Adaeze N. Obi
Managing Partner — Startup & Corporate
Twelve years across venture financings and cross-border M&A. Sits on the other side of the table often enough to know where it bends.
Writing →Portrait — T. Eze
Tobenna Eze
Partner — Oil & Gas
Fifteen years in upstream contracting and licensing. Reads a JOA the way other people read a menu.
Writing →Portrait — H. Bala
Halima Bala
Partner — Criminal Litigation
Former prosecutor. Now spends her days undoing the case files she once built.
Writing →Portrait — N. Ilo
Ngozi Ilo
Senior Associate — Real Estate
Title work, perfection, and the long unglamorous march through the land registry.
Writing →02CorporateCompany secretarial, M&A, joint ventures, CAC and regulatory filings, board governance and shareholder disputes.03Property Lawnew one nowwwwwwwwwww04Oil & GasUpstream and midstream contracting, licensing rounds, local content compliance, and arbitration when the JOA fails.05Criminal LitigationBail applications, trial defence, appeals — and quiet resolutions reached before a charge is ever filed.