Berlin – Every single day the team works hard to help its clients achieve their strategic goals by providing comprehensive legal advice with specialization in the fields of Tax, Funds, Transactions, Corporate and Litigation. Over the last weeks, members of the YPOG team had the honor of being involved in a further wide range of startup funding rounds in the venture capital sector at SMP. To name just a few, recently VCs Planet A Ventures, Acton Capital, Senovo, APEX Ventures and Force Over Mass relied on the experts of the boutique law firm with offices in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. Based on a PitchBook analysis, in February the law firm was recognized as the most active venture capital law firm in the DACH region for the year 2020.
- Planet A invests in traceless
While working at SMP, members of the YPOG team advised impact investment company Planet A Ventures on its investment in the Hamburg-based circular bioeconomy startup traceless materials which was founded in late 2020. The team at traceless has developed a sustainable alternative for plastics and bioplastics that is fully compostable and can help solving the global plastic pollution problem. Alongside Planet A, the investors High-Tech Gründerfonds and b.value AG participated in this first financing round. The funding will be used to scale the company. More information can be found here.
Team:
Dr. Frederik Gärtner, Associated Partner | Dr. Martin Schaper, Partner | Pia Meven, Associate
- Acton invests in Metalshub
While working at SMP, members of the YPOG team advised late-stage venture capital firm Acton Capital on its investment in the Dusseldorf-based company Metalshub. The volume of the Series A funding was $11 million. Alongside Acton, Point Nine and Chromo participated in the round. Metalshub is one of the pioneers of digital transformation in the metals industry. The software startup was founded with the vision of connecting companies in the industry with a digital platform. Digital supply chains can help reduce costs and CO2 emissions. Metalshub plans to use the funding to expand their platform beyond Europe and aims at $1 billion in gross merchandise value by the end of 2021. More information can be found here.
Team:
Dr. Benjamin Ullrich, Partner | Dr. Adrian Haase, Senior Associate
- Senovo invests in HiveMQ
While working at SMP, members of the YPOG team advised early-stage VC Senovo on its investment in HiveMQ, a global leader of enterprise MQTT solutions. Alongside Senovo, the seed founding round was led by Earlybird Venture Capital with participation from business angels Ali Kutay, Mirko Novakovic, Daniel Schellhoss and Charles Songhurst. The financing will be used for R&D and significant growth of sales and marketing efforts. With HiveMQ, companies can connect millions of IoT devices to the cloud in a reliable, scalable and secure manner. Its customers include global brands such as BMW, Daimler, Deutsche Telekom, Liberty Global, Moen, Siemens and ZF. More information can be found here.
Team:
Dr. Benjamin Ullrich, Partner | Dr. Adrian Haase, Senior Associate
- APEX Ventures invests in sewts
While working at SMP, members of the YPOG team advised early-stage VC APEX Ventures on its investment in Munich-based robotics innovator sewts during its seed financing round. Alongside APEX, Bayern Kapital and High-Tech Gründerfonds as well as the existing investor Initiative for Industrial Innovators participated in this round. sewts was founded in 2019 and is a deep-tech startup that has the vision of a complete automation of the clothing production. Hence, the company is developing a software which combines capabilities in the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics and material simulation. The financing will be used to further develop the technology and enter the market of its first use case. More information can be found here.
Team:
Dr. Martin Schaper, Partner | Pia Meven, Associate
- Force Over Mass invests in apaleo
While working at SMP, members of the YPOG team advised London-based VC Force Over Mass on its investment in apaleo, a Munich-based hospitality tech cloud platform provider. Alongside Force Over Mass which acted as lead investor, Redalpine from Zurich and Bayern Kapital from Munich participated in the round. apaleo has developed an open API-driven cloud platform that revolutionises hospitality technology and property management. Despite the worst year the hospitality industry has ever seen, apaleo grew its client base significantly. With the financing the startup plans to foster investments in ist disruptive technology platform. Force Over Mass focuses on B2B technology innovation (Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence, Fintech) in Europe and the UK, and invests on Seed Series A & B stages. The VC invests in companies that combine transformational technology with strong business models.
The team is pleased to have provided legal advice to Force Over Mass for the first time in this transaction. More information can be found here.
Team:
Dr. Benjamin Ullrich, Partner | Matthias Kresser, Senior Associate | Daniela Machado, Senior Foreign Associate
YPOG is a law firm specialized in tax and business law, active in the core fields of Funds, Tax, Banking + Finance, and Transactions. The team at YPOG represents a broad client base, which ranges from emerging technology companies and family-run SMEs to large corporations, as well as private equity, and venture capital funds. YPOG is one of the leading advisors for venture capital, private equity, and fund structuring in Germany. The firm and its partners have been recognized nationally and internationally by JUVE, Best Lawyers, Legal 500, Focus, Chambers and Partners as well as Leaders League. Today, YPOG has more than 150 experienced attorneys, tax advisors and tax specialists and a notary, in four offices, located in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, and Munich.
