Benjamin specializes in M&A and venture capital transactions as well as corporate compliance. Ben's clients appreciate his excellent commercial awareness and proven negotiation skills. This enables him to successfully close even the most complex transactions. In the JUVE Handbook of German Commercial Law Firms, Ben is commended for his ability to steer complex projects very efficiently as well as in a result-driven manner and he is listed there as one of the 20 leading venture capital lawyers. German business weekly Wirtschaftswoche ranks Ben as one of the country’s leading M&A lawyers.
German Business daily Handelsblatt in cooperation with US publishing house Best Lawyers© commended Ben as one of Germany's best lawyers in the areas venture capital, M&A, private equity and corporate law. Legal500 lists him as Next Generation Partner for Venture Capital in Germany. Leaders League ranks Ben as one of only 15 leading German lawyers in Venture Capital (highest category).
Education and Career
Ben studied law in Passau, Bonn and at Christ Church, Oxford. Before co-founding YPOG (in 2021) and SMP (in 2017), he was Associated Partner at Flick Gocke Schaumburg and before that Principal Associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Ben frequently publishes on matters related to corporate law and corporate compliance.
Experience
Ben’s recent work highlights include advising on the following matters (some of which in a previous firm):
- Helsing on all of its financing rounds, including its Series B financing round, led by General Catalyst and under participation of Saab
- Dawn Capital on the exit of LeanIX to SAP as well as on various investments, including the Series A and Series B financing rounds of BRYTER
- Porsche Holding on its investment in Isar Aerospace
- REWE on its investment in WingCopter
- Next47 on its investment in Alaiko
- Insight Partners and Atomico on its investment in Y42
- Atomico on various investments, including in DeepL
- Five Season Ventures and Coefficient Capital on numerous transactions, including the sale of Just Spices to Kraft Heinz
- Mondu on all of its financing rounds, including those led by Valar Ventures
- Clue on the Series B financing round lead by USV and Mosaic as well as the Series C financing round led by Baldton
- everphone on its Series C as well as Series C extension financing rounds led by Cadence Growth Capital
- Visionaries Club, LaFamiglia and Atomico on the exit of arculus to Jungheinreich (Xetra:Jun3)
- Molton Ventures on the Serie A financing round of Schüttflix as well as its investments in SimScale and HiveMQ
- Hillhouse Group on its investment in Agile Robots
- sofatutor on a financing round as well as its shareholders on the exit to Emeram Capital Partners
- IDnow on the investment by Corsair Capital as well as on the acquisitions Wirecard Communication Services, of identity Trust Management and of Ariadnext as well as a credit line extended by BlackRock
- Cluno on its Series B financing round as well as its shareholders on the exit to Cazoo (NYSE:CZOO)
- Flaschenpost inter alia on its Series C and D financing rounds as well as the exit to Dr. Oetker
- Franz Haniel & Cie. on the acquisition of a 50.1% stake in Emma – The Sleep Company
- Lightspeed Venture Partners and Viola Ventures on its investment in Candis
- Katjesgreenfods on various international and national investments
- signals Venture Capital on the merger of Bird and Circ
- Business Angels on the sale of Cash Payment Solutions (barzahlen.de) to Japanese Glory Group
- Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund on its investment in Tacalyx
- Battery Ventures on the Series D and Series E financing rounds of GetYourGuide
- Project A Ventures, Lakestar and Acton Capital Partners on numerous transactions
- Wunder Mobility on its Series B financing round and on the acquisition of Fleetbird
- Shareholders in Priori Data on the sale to AppScatter (AIM:APPS)
- Shareholders in Contorion on the sale to Hoffmann
- LegalZoom on all investments in Germany
- Ströer (Xetra:SAX) on the acquisition of Statista
- Shareholders in Parstream on the sale to Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO)
Qualifications
- German qualified attorney (Rechtsanwalt)
- Ph.D. in law (Dr. iur.) (Bonn University)
- MJur (Christ Church, Oxford)
Languages
- German
- English
- Compliance in M&A transactions
in: Schulz (Ed.), Corporate Compliance Management – Strategies and effective implementation, 2nd edn. 2020, Chapter 18, p. 607-648- (in German) - Multiseller Transactions – Part 1: The liability regime/Part 2: The sellers' agreement
GmbHR 2019, 625-633 and 1334-1343 (together with Martin Schaper) - (in German) - Investment Agreement (Commentary to Guarantees and Remedies Section)
in: Bank/Möllmann, Venture Capital Agreements in Germany 2017 - (forthcoming) - M&A transactions – how much compliance is required, how little is possible?
CB 2017, 288-293 (together with Petra Schaffner) - (in German) - Step by step: Compliance due diligence
CB 2015, 233-238 (together with Moritz von Hesberg) - (in German) - Trade-offs in non-profit limited liability companies – structurally lower creditor protection?
in: Hüttemann/Rawert/K. Schmidt/Weitemeyer (eds.), Non Profit Law Yearbook 2011/2012, p. 115-146 - (in German) - Corporate law and tax exemptions for non-profits – Non-profit limited liability companies and other legal entities in-between corporate and tax law
Treatises on German and European Commercial and Business Law, Cologne 2011, reviewed by Weitemeyer, npoR 2011, 147 (in German) - Non-profit limited liability companies following the MoMiG reform – non-profit entrepreneurial companies and interest payable on shareholder loans in lieu of equity?
GmbHR 2009, 750-759 - The statutory model articles of association for non-profit organizations in practice
DStR 2009, 2471-2473 - Review of Davies, Gower and Davies’ Principles of Modern Company Law, 8th edition
NZG 2009, 18 - Registered company names – legitimacy of abbreviations designating non-profit status
NZG 2007, 656-658
Direct message to Dr. Benjamin Ullrich