Pillsbury’s latest partner addition in Texas came Wednesday morning, as the firm announced in a news release that Valeska Pederson Hintz has joined its Emerging Companies and Venture Capital as a partner in the Austin office.
Pederson Hintz joins Pillsbury after nearly five years as a partner in Ashurst Perkins Coie’s Austin office, where she specialized in advising growth-stage companies and investors. She is the tenth startup-focused lateral partner to join Pillsbury in the past two years.
“Pillsbury is home to one of the world’s marquee Emerging Companies and Venture Capital practices, and the many impressive practitioners who have joined the group in recent months only reinforces that standout reputation,” said Firm Chair David Dekker in the release. “Valeska’s arrival marks another significant addition to the team, further enhancing the technical sophistication, experience and market credibility we bring to bear for clients, in Texas’s growing ECVC market and nationally.”
Pederson Hintz advises companies and investors on transactions such as minority investments, initial public offerings, tenders, acquisitions and more. She specializes in helping establish corporate and governance structures for companies, while also advising on investments and exits. She has nearly two decades of experience, including time in-house counsel at a late-stage Silicon Valley biotech company.
“Valeska is a known commodity with extensive connections to both the Austin and Silicon Valley technology ecosystems,” said Christina Pearson, the Global Co-Head of Pillsbury’s Corporate & Securities practice, in the release. “That broad network as well as her extensive experience in the defensetech, deeptech, energytech, AI, biotech and other high-growth industries enable her to serve as a critical bridge for those she represents. We are so excited to have her on board.”
“Texas is already home to a vibrant ecosystem of emerging companies, investors and innovators, and it just keeps growing,” added Steve Ryan, leader of Pillsbury’s Emerging Companies and Venture Capital practice. “Valeska’s arrival means we can keep pace with that growth. Together with Andy Smetana, Rita Kelrikh, Patrick Dolan and others, she further elevates Pillsbury’s standing within the local ECVC community.”
Pederson Hintz received her law degree in 2006 from Fordham. She is a 2003 graduate of the University of Texas.
“With its market-leading startup capabilities, strong tech sector connections, broad global reach and renowned culture of collaboration, Pillsbury offers the perfect conditions to build and grow an ECVC practice,” Pederson Hintz said in the release. “I’m thrilled for this opportunity and the impressive team I’ll get to work with, which includes a number of longtime friends and former colleagues who I deeply admire.”
The Texas Lawbook caught up with Pederson Hintz about trends she’s seeing in her practice area and more:
The Texas Lawbook: What are two or three of the most important trends that you are seeing the emerging companies and VC space?
Valeska Pederson Hintz: One trend is the concentration of venture capital in AI and the deep tech businesses building the next generation of robotics, space technology, energy, data centers, semiconductors and defense systems. AI is increasingly moving into the physical world, creating opportunities for founders and investors to reshape industries from manufacturing to transportation. As these companies develop and commercialize their products, they increasingly encounter complex regulation and need specialized attorneys who understand both their products and the regulatory frameworks governing their markets. Pillsbury’s deep bench across technology, energy, space and national security lets us bring that expertise into the company’s growth strategy early, helping founders anticipate obstacles, attract capital and get products to market.
A second trend is the growing importance of secondaries and M&A alongside IPOs as routes to liquidity. For founders and investors, that makes planning for liquidity part of building the business, with decisions about ownership, governance and financing affecting the options available later. A well-structured private company tender offer, for example, can give employees and early investors liquidity while preserving the company’s ability to keep growing independently. Pillsbury’s venture, M&A and capital markets capabilities allow me to help clients evaluate those choices together and pursue the path that best supports the business and its shareholders.
The Lawbook: How is AI impacting your practice and how you work with clients?
Pederson Hintz: AI is helping me and my team work faster and more efficiently, with meaningful benefits for the founders and investors I advise. It can accelerate time-consuming tasks freeing up more time for strategic advice and negotiations.
It also helps me develop and refine drafts more quickly, so we can move from a first draft to a productive discussion sooner. Legal research is becoming more efficient as well, with AI helping identify relevant authorities and synthesize issues for further analysis and verification.
Those efficiencies create opportunities to reduce legal costs and make sophisticated legal support more accessible for startups and smaller, early stage investors. For clients raising capital, pursuing acquisitions or building a business, faster turnaround and better use of their legal budget can make a real difference. At Pillsbury, I’m excited to help build a practice that combines deep transactional and industry experience with a forward-looking approach to technology.
My goal is to bring the same commitment to innovation that my clients bring to their businesses, delivering responsive, commercially practical advice with greater speed and value.
The Lawbook: What are two or three concerns or issues you are hearing most often from your clients?
Pederson Hintz: Some of the concerns I hear most often are access to capital, liquidity and how to manage the growing complexity of scaling a technology business. Founders see enormous financing announcements, but with so much capital concentrated in a handful of large AI companies, those headlines do not necessarily reflect the fundraising environment for other excellent businesses. Investors are equally focused on liquidity.
After several difficult years for exits beginning in 2022, the priority is returning cash to limited partners, measured by DPI or cumulative distributions from a fund over limited partner paid-in capital, and creating capacity to invest in the next generation of companies.
What is encouraging is that I am seeing more term sheets for both financings and acquisitions, and conversations that had been on hold are moving toward actual transactions. Carta’s data reinforces that momentum, with acquisitions of companies on its platform rising 16 percent in the first half of 2026, although the recovery is still uneven.
For my clients, that means thinking strategically about growth financings, secondaries and potential acquisitions, and negotiating terms that meet today’s needs while preserving future options.
The third concern is keeping regulatory, IP and commercial issues from becoming obstacles to growth, particularly as companies enter regulated industries, attract international capital, or negotiate significant customer partnerships. That is a major reason I am excited to be at Pillsbury. I can combine my experience in financings, liquidity transactions and cross-border deals with the firm’s deep technology, regulatory and industry capabilities to help clients move decisively as this next wave of deal activity develops.