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Berlin/Hamburg/Cologne/Munich, July 2025 – In recent weeks, YPOG has advised on a wide range of transactions in the startup sector. Among others, we have collaborated with renowned investors and companies such as Swan Beauty, NaroIQ, Vorwerk Ventures, Green Generation Fund, Katjes Greenfood, Project A, 42CAP, 10x Founders and adesso Ventures.

YPOG advises Swan Beauty on 10 million EUR Extended Seed financing round

Hamburg, June 30, 2025 – YPOG has advised beauty tech startup Swan Beauty on its 10 million EUR Extended Seed financing round.

Swan Beauty is developing an AI-powered platform for personalized skincare products, aiming to improve individual skin health through data-driven analysis and customized product solutions.

The funding will be used to further develop the technology, expand the product portfolio, and support the company’s expansion into the U.S. market. A particular highlight of the round is the launch of SWAN US, backed by 5 million EUR in funding and a strong investor base, as well as the introduction of the new SWAN Mirror, an AI-driven skin analysis tool.

Team

Dr. Adrian Haase (Lead, Transactions), Partner, Hamburg
Dr. Gerrit Breetholt (Transactions), Associate, Hamburg

 

YPOG advises NaroIQ on seed financing round 

Cologne, July 1, 2025 - YPOG has advised NaroIQ GmbH on its €5.85 million seed financing round. The round was led by VC Magnetic, which specialises in critical infrastructure investments, with participation among others from Redstone and existing investor General Catalyst. 

Founded in 2022 by Chris Püllen and Nils Krauthausen, NaroIQ is building a digital fund infrastructure “Made in Europe”. The platform enables banks, insurers and asset managers to launch their own ETF and fund products quickly, cost-effectively and fully digitally. With this, the fintech aims to provide a technological alternative to the US-dominated European fund market and to lower market entry barriers, especially for smaller providers. 

NaroIQ plans to use the fresh capital to further develop its platform and expand its regulatory capabilities. Initial partnerships are expected to launch this year, with the first ETF products scheduled to go live in the second half of 2025. 

Team 

Dr. Johannes Janning (Lead, Transactions), Partner, Cologne 
Janic Salcedas (Transactions), Associate, Cologne 
Paul Harenberg (Transactions), Associate, Cologne 

 

YPOG advises Vorwerk Ventures on investment in Healthtech startup Carelane

Hamburg, July 2, 2025 - YPOG has advised Vorwerk Ventures on a seed financing round of EUR 2.6 million in the Bremen-based Healthtech startup Carelane. The round was led by Vorwerk Ventures, with participation from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) as well as several business angels. Following the financing round, Vorwerk Ventures and HTGF each hold approximately 16% of Carelane. Previously, HTGF and co-investors had already invested EUR 800,000 in the company.

Carelane, founded in 2023 by Yannick Börner and Gustav Vella, is developing software aimed at optimizing clinical trials. The startup’s goal is to support researchers and healthcare professionals in accelerating medical research and innovation. Leveraging artificial intelligence, Carelane seeks to reduce the costs of clinical trials by up to 80% and significantly streamline processes.

Carelane plans to use the new funds primarily to expand sales and customer support, scale its technological infrastructure, and further develop its AI capabilities. More than 130 research sites across six continents are already using the solution.

Team

Dr. Adrian Haase (Lead, Transactions), Partner, Hamburg
Dr. Lutz Schreiber (IP/IT/Data Protection), Partner, Hamburg
Dr. Gerrit Breetholt (Transactions), Associate, Hamburg 
Miriam Peer (Transactions), Associate, Hamburg
Dr. Florian Wittner (IP/IT/Data Protection), Associate, Hamburg

 

YPOG advises Green Generation Fund and Katjes Greenfood on Financing Round of VEGDOG

Cologne/Berlin, July 2, 2025 – YPOG advised Green Generation Fund and Katjes Greenfood on a new financing round of younikat GmbH, known under the brand VEGDOG. Both existing investors reaffirmed their commitment by participating once again in the innovative foodtech company specializing in vegan dog food. Green Generation Fund ranks among the leading investors in this round, which includes both existing and new backers.

VEGDOG is a pioneer in the plant-based pet food market, aiming to combine animal health with sustainability. With the new funding, the company plans to further advance its product development, expand its market presence, and strengthen its position as a leading provider of vegan dog food.

The Green Generation Fund, a Berlin-based VC fund with over 100 million EUR in assets, strategically invests in early-stage startups in the foodtech and greentech sectors that drive sustainable innovations within planetary boundaries. Katjes Greenfood, a brand investor specializing in plant-based nutrition, has been committed to future-orientated nutrition concepts with a focus on the “love brands” of tomorrow for years and, with this investment, once again reaffirms its strategic focus on high-growth companies in the plant-based products sector.

Team Green Generation Fund

Dr. Emma Peters (Co-Lead, Transactions), Associated Partner, Berlin
Dr. Benjamin Ullrich (Co-Lead, Transactions), Partner, Berlin
Silke Ricken (Transactions), Associate, Berlin

Team Katjes Greenfood

Dr. Johannes Janning (Lead, Transactions), Partner, Cologne
Janic Salcedas (Transactions), Associate, Cologne
Laura Franke (Transactions), Senior Project Lawyer, Cologne

 

YPOG advises Project A on pre-seed funding round of avoltra

Berlin, July 3, 2025 - YPOG has advised Berlin-based early-stage investor Project A on the EUR 2.3 million pre-seed funding round of Nuremberg-based startup avoltra. In addition to Project A, which led the round, the CDTM Venture Fund and several prominent business angels also participated.

avoltra is developing a platform for energy analytics designed to help industrial companies turn energy procurement into a strategic competitive advantage. By continuously analyzing energy markets, the platform identifies risks and opportunities in real time and provides data-driven purchasing recommendations tailored to each company’s specific energy profile. With this approach, avoltra addresses rising and increasingly unpredictable energy prices, enabling industrial businesses to make well-informed decisions in an increasingly complex and volatile market environment.

With the fresh capital, avoltra plans to further advance the technology behind its platform, expand new features, and strengthen its engineering and go-to-market teams to drive scaling into additional industrial sectors and markets.

Team

Dr. Frederik Gärtner (Lead, Transactions), Partner, Berlin 
Cyra Dittberner (Transactions), Associate, Munich
Charlotte Petrasch (IP/IT/Data Protection), Associate, Berlin

 

YPOG advises 42CAP on seed financing of Swedish SaaS start-up Impulso

Berlin, July 4, 2025 - YPOG has advised venture capital investor 42CAP on a seed financing round of EUR 6 million in Swedish start-up Impulso. The round was co-led by Spintop Ventures.

Founded by industry professionals David Thunmarker (formerly Tiger of Sweden, Oscar Jacobson) and Mathias Olsteg, Impulso is developing a SaaS platform that redefines collaboration between brands and retailers. The company’s flagship product, the “Product Tracker,” delivers real-time sell-through and inventory data. The goal is to reduce overproduction, improve demand forecasting, and enable more profitable and sustainable partnerships between brands and retail.

With the new funds, Impulso plans to drive European expansion, develop AI-powered forecasting tools, and integrate fintech functionalities into its platform. Brands such as Jacob Cohën and Follestad are already among the company’s customers.

Team

Dr. Frederik Gärtner (Lead, Transactions), Partner, Berlin 
Roman Pfeiffer (Transactions), Associate, Berlin
Dr. Christoph Cordes (IP/IT/Data Protection), Associate, Berlin

 

YPOG advises 42CAP on financing of Czech AI start-up Waypoint AI

Berlin, July 4, 2025 - YPOG has advised venture capital investor 42CAP on an early-stage financing round of EUR 2.7 million in Czech start-up Waypoint AI. The round was co-led by Dreamcraft Ventures.

Prague-based Waypoint AI, founded in 2024 by Tomas Polivka, Steve Boogar, and Liam Boogar-Azoulay, is developing an AI-powered platform designed to transform the work of customer support and engineering teams. The solution automates the intake, categorisation, and escalation of support tickets, assists engineers with root cause analysis and problem resolution, and generates detailed incident timelines and reports.

Leveraging large language models (LLMs) and a proprietary knowledge base, Waypoint AI consolidates scattered information from documentation, chat logs, tickets, and internal tools. This technology enables companies to resolve support requests significantly faster, deploy resources more efficiently, and sustainably improve customer satisfaction.

With the new funding, Waypoint AI plans to expand its engineering team and further scale the platform to meet growing demand.

Team

Dr. Frederik Gärtner (Lead, Transactions), Partner, Berlin 
Roman Pfeiffer (Transactions), Associate, Berlin
Dr. Benedikt Flöter (IP/IT/Data Protection), Partner, Berlin

 

YPOG advises 10x Founders on investment in robotics startup Filics

Hamburg, July 7, 2025 - YPOG has advised 10x Founders on their participation in a 13.5 million EUR growth financing round of Filics, a Munich-based robotics company developing autonomous solutions for pallet handling and warehouse optimization. The round was led by Sandwater, Alven, F-LOG Ventures, and the Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, alongside further contributions from existing and new investors.

Founded in 2019 out of the Technical University of Munich, Filics has created the “Filics Unit,” a highly compact robotics system designed to maneuver Euro pallets and other load carriers weighing up to 1.2 tons, even in narrow warehouse environments. Using a pair of omnidirectional robots operating in tandem, the technology enables space savings of up to 30%, with future versions targeting as much as 66% space efficiency in floor block warehouses.

The fresh capital will fuel technological development of the Filics Unit and support preparations for international expansion. By the end of 2025, Filics plans to launch solutions tailored for floor block storage systems, with entry into additional European markets scheduled for 2026. Long-term, the company is working toward fully autonomous truck loading in under five minutes.

Team

Dr. Adrian Haase (Lead, Transactions), Partner, Hamburg
Miriam Peer (Transactions), Associate, Hamburg

 

YPOG advises adesso ventures on seed financing of Estonian start-up Flowstep

Hamburg, July 10, 2025 - YPOG has advised adesso ventures on a seed financing round of 2.2 million EUR in Estonian start-up Flowstep. The round was led by London-based Supernode Global. Other investors include Angel Invest, Dnipro VC, Iron Wolf Capital, and Anton Borzov (WhatsApp). Existing investors such as Tera Ventures, Specialist VC, Thomas Wolf (Hugging Face), and Elias Aalto (Wolt) also participated again. With this round, Flowstep has raised a total of 3.8 million EUR to date.

Founded in 2023 in Tallinn, Flowstep is developing an AI-based platform that helps product teams implement software design processes more quickly and efficiently. Using advanced language models, machine learning, and proprietary technologies, users can create detailed designs within seconds and edit them flexibly. The goal is to streamline the early design phase and bring high-quality digital products to market faster.

With the new capital, Flowstep plans to expand its engineering team, further develop the platform, and introduce enterprise-grade features, particularly in the areas of governance, security, and compliance. The company also aims to expand into the US market and internationally.

Team

Dr. Adrian Haase (Lead, Transactions), Partner, Hamburg
Alexandra Tafel (Transactions), Senior Associate, Berlin

 

 

About us

YPOG stands for You + Partners of Gamechangers – forward-thinking legal and tax advice. Supporting companies that are focused on emerging technologies, YPOG embraces change as an opportunity to develop cutting-edge solutions. The YPOG team offers comprehensive expertise in the areas of Funds, Tax, Transactions, Corporate, Banking, Regulatory + Finance, IP/IT/Data Protection, Litigation, and Corporate Crime + Compliance + Investigations. YPOG is one of the leading law firms in Germany for venture capital, private equity, fund structuring, and the implementation of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in financial services. Both the firm and its partners are regularly recognized by renowned national and international publications such as JUVE, Best Lawyers, Chambers and Partners, Leaders League, and Legal 500. YPOG is home to more than 150 experienced attorneys, tax advisors and tax specialists as well as a notary, working across offices in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, and Munich. 

Further information: www.ypog.law/en/ and www.linkedin.com/company/ypog