Get a warrant instrument that matches your investment deal

This service is commonly used by startups, growth companies and other New Zealand businesses raising capital where an investor is being offered a right to acquire shares later on agreed terms. It can also be relevant where warrants are being used alongside another investment document rather than as the only funding instrument. The main question is whether the commercial deal includes future equity rights that need to be recorded clearly. If it does, a standalone warrant instrument or coordinated drafting with other raise documents may be needed.

Problems often arise when the commercial deal is discussed at a high level but the instrument does not spell out the mechanics clearly enough. Common pressure points include the exercise price, when the warrant can be exercised, what events affect the holder's rights, how long the warrant lasts, and what happens if the company raises further capital or restructures. If those points are vague, founders and investors can end up with very different expectations later. Careful drafting helps record the deal more accurately, but it cannot remove every commercial or execution risk.

The service includes a lawyer consultation, a warrant instrument drafted for your transaction, advice on the main legal and commercial issues raised by the proposed terms, one round of changes to the draft, and guidance on signing and next steps. It is broader than simply producing a document from a precedent because the drafting is tied to your fundraising scenario. However, it does not automatically include negotiation support, board approvals, shareholder approvals, cap table modelling, tax analysis, or ongoing involvement through the full closing process unless separately arranged.

Yes, and that is often where this service is most useful. A warrant instrument rarely exists in a vacuum. It may need to sit consistently with a term sheet, subscription agreement, shareholder arrangements or other investment documents. As part of the included work, your lawyer can identify where the warrant terms need to line up with the broader deal. If your raise requires additional documents or a more coordinated transaction set, that can be scoped as extra work so the documentation fits together properly.

That can still be workable, but it is important to flag it early. Cross-border deals, unusual exercise triggers, complex conversion logic or rights linked to future events can all increase drafting complexity. In those cases, the standard fixed-fee service may need to be adjusted or expanded. Your lawyer can let you know whether the proposed terms fit within the listed scope or whether extra support is needed. That way, you know upfront whether this service is the right fit for the transaction you are trying to close.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Warrant Instrument service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.