October 4, 2021

YPOG Deal Update: Current Transactions

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Berlin – At YPOG, 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, Corporate, Litigation, Transactions, IP/IT and notarial services. In recent weeks, YPOG has again been involved in a large number of transactions in the startup sector. Among others, recently Join Capital, Keleya, Ventech, APEX, Cherry Ventures as well as 42CAP relied on the expertise of the boutique law firm with offices in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne.

- YPOG advises Join Capital on investment in FotoNow

Benjamin Ullrich, Emma Peters and Christiane Schnitzler advised early-stage investor Join Capital on its investment in Munich-based AI startup FotoNow. In addition to numerous angel investors, the VC Initiative for Industrial Innovators also participated in the round. FotoNow addresses manufacturing quality challenges with an AI-powered visual inspection solution, providing an automated quality inspection and defect detection system for this purpose. For example, a scratch on a car can only be detected visually. There are several ways to do this: with automated camera technology or with the human eye. Human inspection has been the method of choice – but it is time-consuming, error-prone and not scalable. Images for FotoNow's proprietary technology can be captured with any camera or network-enabled device – from digital and industrial cameras to mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. Detected manufacturing defects are then reported in real time to responsible employees. Thanks to a patented technology, use cases can be implemented within a short period of time with an accuracy of over 99% in any environment. From missing or incorrectly assembled parts, scratches, dents and gaps to color differences, any defect within the camera's field of view can be detected with FotoNow technology. Dust detection in the run-up to painting processes is also possible, as is text recognition on components, for example to automatically identify information relevant to approval. Led by Tobias Schirmer, Jan Borgstädt and Sebastian von Ribbentrop, VC Join Capital invests in European startups in areas such as AI, IoT, machine learning, 5G and analytics. More information can be found here.

Team:
Dr. Benjamin Ullrich (Lead), Partner
Emma Peters, Senior Associate
Christiane Schnitzler, Associate

- YPOG advises Keleya on Series A financing round

Benjamin Ullrich and Adrian Haase advised Berlin-based startup Keleya Digital-Health Solutions GmbH on its Series A financing round. Investors include Crista-Galli Ventures, Calm/Storm Ventures and SeedLink SL. Keleya has developed an app that is available globally and offers personalized workouts, nutrition and expert tips tailored to the individual pregnant woman, as well as a childbirth class. Keleya has enjoyed a successful year of growth. The company's childbirth preparation courses for expectant mothers and fathers are now covered by more than 20 private and statutory health insurers in Germany. In addition, the team led by co-founders Victoria Engelhardt and Sarah Müggenburg launched the midwife matching platform Ammely in collaboration with the German Midwives Association (Deutscher Hebammenverband e.V.), in which 4,000 midwives have already registered since the launch in April 2020, according to the company. Currently, around 15 percent of expectant parents in Germany already use Keleya products or services. With the help of the investment, the company plans to further develop its innovative health solutions, to strengthen the product ecosystem and to increase the market share to 20 percent next year. Further information can be found here.

Team:
Dr. Benjamin Ullrich (Co-Lead), Partner
Dr. Adrian Haase (Co-Lead), Senior Associate

- YPOG advises Ventech and APEX on investment in Mobius Labs

Two Teams at YPOG advised VCs APEX and Ventech on their investment in Berlin-based visual AI company Mobius Labs. The Series A financing round was led by Ventech. In addition to YPOG's clients Ventech Europe and APEX Ventures, Atlantic Labs, Space Capital, Lunar Ventures and several angel investors also participated. Mobius Labs develops market-leading computer vision solutions for image and video analysis. The technology enables companies around the world to scale, automate and optimize their visual content work. The AI developed by Mobius Labs improves visual search by understanding everything about an image or video and automatically creating metadata for each. With the funding it has raised, the company hopes to further accelerate its growth and expand its presence, particularly in Europe and the United States. In addition, Mobius Labs plans to double its headcount in the next twelve months. More information can be found here.

Team for Ventech:
Dr. Benjamin Ullrich (Co-Lead), Partner
Konstantin Häfner, Associate
Bilal Tirsi, Associate

Team for APEX:
Dr. Frederik Gärtner (Co-Lead), Partner
Dr. Martin Schaper (Co-Lead), Partner

- YPOG advises Cherry Ventures on financing round of Climatiq

Benjamin Ullrich and Konstantin Häfner advised early-stage investor Cherry Ventures on its investment in Berlin-based startup Climatiq in its pre-seed funding round. In addition to Cherry Ventures, a number of business angels also participated, including Indeed founder Paul Forster's family office and Jens Lapinski of Angel Invest. Climatiq develops a set of meaningful tools to measure CO2 in various activities and business operations. Climatiq's software is based on open source data and enables companies to efficiently manage and optimize their carbon footprint. Climatiq is currently in public beta. The company was founded in 2021 by Hessam Lavi, Isis T. Baulig and Philipp von Bieberstein. Already well-known in the Berlin startup scene, the founders are long-time collaborators and experienced entrepreneurs with a proven track record of building and scaling groundbreaking data companies. More information can be found here.

Team:
Dr. Benjamin Ullrich (Lead), Partner
Konstantin Häfner, Associate

- YPOG advises 42CAP on financing round of Fuzzy Logic Robotics

A Team led by Frederik Gärtner advised early-stage investor 42CAP on its investment in the seed funding round of French-American startup Fuzzy Logic Robotics. Alongside lead investor 42CAP, Paris-based VC Karista also participated as a further early-stage investor. Fuzzy Logic Robotics emerged from leading robotics research institutes in France and was founded by a French-American Team of robotics experts. The founders, Ryan Lober and Antoine Hoarau, were looking for new ways to control and program next-generation robotic applications. Based on the specifications of a customer in the audiovisual industry, the founders succeeded in developing software that allowed industrial robots to be operated by untrained users. From then on, users were able to program and control even complex robo applications without prior training. Based on their experience, the employees of Fuzzy Logic Robotics were subsequently able to easily transfer the new findings to other industrial sectors. Further information can be found here.

Team:
Dr. Frederik Gärtner (Lead), Partner
Konstantin Häfner, Associate

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About us

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 120 experienced lawyers and tax specialists and a notary, in three offices, located in Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne.