DLA Piper represented San Francisco-based MetaVC Partners in the formation of its inaugural venture capital fund, which will focus on venture investments in early-stage startups employing metamaterials technology, a cutting-edge area of materials science that offers the potential to improve the performance and reduce the size and weight of devices such as sensors and lenses.

“Metamaterials as a core technology is on the cusp of widespread industry adoption,” said MetaVC Partners Managing Partners Chris Alliegro and Conrad Burke. Alliegro and Burke were previously executives at Invention Science Fund, a startup incubator that spun out several startups commercializing advances in metamaterials.

MetaVC Partners currently holds investment positions in Mangata Networks, which is developing satellite-enabled telecommunication and edge computing services, and Neurophos, which is focused on optical neuromorphic computing products.

“It was a pleasure to bring our extensive fund formation capabilities, as well as our wide-ranging technology sector experience, to advise MetaVC Partners on the establishment of this fund,” said Yoni Tuchman, the DLA Piper partner who led the firm’s deal team.

In addition to Tuchman (Los Angeles), the DLA Piper team advising MetaVC Partners included partner SeoJung Park (Silicon Valley) and associate David Pennant (Philadelphia).

The firm’s global investment funds team provides a dynamic, integrated service to sponsors, fund managers and institutional investors, supported by the firm’s international tax and regulatory networks. The team advises clients on the full spectrum of private investment funds, all major investment strategies and all stages of a private investment fund’s life cycle.