Frank Vargas

Frank Vargas, a Partner at Rimon Law, was named Venture Capital Funds Lawyer of the Year in California, US at the 2024 Corporate INTL Global Awards. Based in the firm's Menlo Park office in Silicon Valley, with a further base in Minneapolis, Vargas advises on corporate and business transactions, emerging companies and venture capital, and banking and financial services, and is recognised for his work with technology firms and the funds that back them.

Vargas brings more than three decades of experience in corporate and securities law, having advised technology companies and venture capital funds across Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Seattle and Boston. His practice spans the full life cycle of a growth company, from formation and early financing through successive venture rounds, positioning him to counsel both the founders raising capital and the fund managers deploying it. That dual perspective is central to venture capital funds work, where structuring, negotiation and regulatory compliance all bear on the relationship between investors and the companies they support.

His background is unusually entrepreneurial for a transactional lawyer. He founded and led Finazz.com, served as Executive Vice President and Director of Corporate Finance at Dougherty & Company, and was a Principal at Aethlon Capital, in addition to co-founding a large number of companies over the course of his career. This operator's experience gives him a first-hand understanding of the commercial pressures facing the emerging companies and investors he now advises, and informs a practical approach to deal-making.

Vargas holds a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University and both a Juris Doctor and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. He is admitted to practise in California and Minnesota. Rimon Law, the firm at which he is a partner, operates as a distributed, technology-enabled practice that brings together experienced lawyers across multiple jurisdictions, a model well suited to the cross-border and multi-market character of venture capital and technology transactions.

Venture capital funds practice sits at the meeting point of corporate law, securities regulation and investment structuring. Lawyers in the field help sponsors form and operate funds, negotiate the terms on which capital is committed and invested, and guide portfolio companies through financings and eventual exits. Success depends on balancing the interests of investors and management while keeping transactions efficient and compliant, work that draws on both technical precision and commercial judgement.

The Venture Capital Funds Lawyer of the Year in California, US award recognises Vargas's standing in one of the world's most competitive markets for technology and venture finance. Combining long experience in corporate and securities law with a founder's understanding of how companies are built and funded, he continues to advise clients navigating the demands of raising and investing capital in the innovation economy.