John McKenna

John has been with Cooley for more than 25 years and practices corporate and securities law, with an emphasis on the representation of publicly traded companies and the investment banks involved with such companies. He has counseled public and private company clients in the full range of corporate and securities matters, including venture financing transactions, public offerings of equity and debt, employee incentive programs, M&A, strategic corporate relationships, Securities and Exchange Commission reporting and compliance, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and corporate governance. John also is a retired CPA (Ernst & Young alum).

John’s representative matters since 2020 include:

Initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, PIPEs and debt offerings

• Vaxcyte in its $862 million follow-on offering
• The underwriters in Sagimet Biosciences' $112 million follow-on offering
• The initial purchaser in PureCycle Technologies’ $250 million 144A convertible note offering
• The underwriters in Sagimet’s $85 million IPO
• SI-Bone in its $96 million follow-on offering
• The underwriters in Establishment Labs’ $90 million follow-on offering
• Vaxcyte in its $575 million follow-on offering
• Enovix in its $173 million Rule 144A convertible note offering
• The placement agent in Porch Group’s $333 million private note offering
• The underwriters in Prothena’s $211 million follow-on offering
• Pagaya Technologies in its $75 million PIPE
• Vaxcyte in its $690 million follow-on offering
• Revance Therapeutics in its $230 million follow-on offering
• The underwriters in Bellus Health’s $183 million cross border US follow-on offering
• Inspirato in its $89 million PIPE
• The underwriters in Bellus Health’s $200 million cross border US follow-on offering
• The placement agent in Vertex Energy’s $150 million private note offering
• Apollo Endosurgery’s $75 million follow-on offering
• Archer Aviation’s $600 million PIPE
• IonQ’s $345 million PIPE
• Docebo in its $100 million cross-border US follow-on offering
• Immunovant in its $200 million PIPE
• The underwriters in Instructure’s $288 million IPO
• The underwriters in Prothena’s $84 million follow-on offering
• Rani Therapeutics in its $85 million IPO
• Cytek Biosciences in its $285 million IPO
• Origin Materials in its $200 million PIPE
• AvePoint in its $140 million PIPE
• Enovix in its $175 million PIPE
• NVIDIA in its $5 billion registered debt offering
• Roku in its $1 billion at-the-market program
• Lucira Health in its $175 million IPO
• Nuvation Bio in its $477 million PIPE
• Bolt Biotherapeutics in its $265 million IPO
• Docebo in its $115 million cross border US follow-on offering
• AppHarvest in its $375 million PIPE
• Docebo in its $165 million cross-border US IPO
• Absolute Software in its $69 million cross-border US IPO
• SI-Bone in its $80 million follow-on offering
• Opthea in its $128 million cross-border US IPO
• The underwriters in Bellus Health’s $30 million cross-border US follow-on offering
• Immunovant in its $200 million follow-on offering
• Omnicell in its $400 million Rule 144A note offering
• Ovid Therapeutics in its $50 million follow-on offering
• Aurinia Pharmaceuticals in its $200 million cross-border US follow-on offering
• The underwriters in Calix’s $64 million follow-on offering
• 1Life Healthcare in its $296 million follow-on offering
• 1Life Healthcare in its $316 million Rule 144A convertible note offering
• Roku in its $500 million at-the-market program
• Immunovant in its $139 million follow-on offering
• Calithera Biosciences in its $40 million follow-on offering
• NVIDIA in its $5 billion registered debt offering
• Axovant Gene Therapies in its $62 million follow-on offering
• The underwriters in Establishment Labs’ $69 million follow-on offering
• 1Life Healthcare in its $282 million IPO

At-the-Market Programs (ATMs) and Equity Lines of Credit (ELOCs)

John also has advised numerous companies and sales agents on the establishment of at-the-market programs for raising capital in the aggregate of $4 billion and equity lines of credit for raising capital in the aggregate of $500 million.

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)

John also has advised AppHarvest, AvePoint, Archer Aviation, Complete Solaria, ConvergeOne, Enovix, Immunovant, IonQ, Kaleyra, Nuvation Bio and Origin Materials on their completed mergers with SPACs.

Credentials

John received a JD in 1996, cum laude, from the Boston University School of Law, where he served as an article editor for the Journal of Science & Technology Law. He received a BS in business administration, with a finance concentration, from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 1989.

Before attending law school, John worked in the Los Angeles and Palo Alto offices of Ernst & Young.

John is a member of the State Bar of California and is a former certified public accountant in the state of California.