Johannes Janning is an attorney and partner at YPOG in Cologne and specializes in venture capital and M&A transactions. He advises investors, start-ups, corporate venture capital units and other companies in day-to-day corporate law, financing rounds, acquisitions, joint ventures and exits, including cross-border transactions. He earned his doctorate on virtual stock option programs; the structuring of complex employee participation programs has been one of his key areas of practice ever since.
Johannes was recognised by WirtschaftsWoche as one of three Future Leaders in the Best of Legal Awards 2021. In the JUVE Handbook of German Commercial Law Firms, he is commended for his negotiations skills, his great experience in the VC and M&A segment as well as his client-service orientation. Legal 500 lists him as a recommended lawyer in the M&A segment.
Education and Career
Johannes studied law in Bonn, Marburg and London. In addition to his doctorate on virtual stock option programs at the University of Cologne, he obtained two Master of Laws (LL.M.) degrees with the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Philipps-University of Marburg, the latter with a specialisation in life science law. Johannes frequently publishes on matters related to corporate law.
Experience
Johannes‘ recent work highlights include advising:
Startups, inter alia:
- Helsing on the $1.8 billion Series E financing round (valuation $18 billion)
- SellerX on a $500 million equity and debt financing
- MILES Mobility on the acquisition of WeShare from Volkswagen
- Circus on financing rounds as well as the acquisition of robotic startup Aitme and the AI company FullyAI
- Personio on the restructuring of its global employee participation program and the acquisition of recruiting AI startup aurio
- Moss on the Series A to C financing rounds (most recently at a valuation of €1 billion)
- Alpha Sophia, Cansativa, Energy Robotics, Jupus, Flixcheck, Mondu, naro, Roofline, W1nnas and many more on early-stage to growth-stage financing rounds
- Consumer Edge on the acquisition of German startup Qentnis
- Shareholders of AI startup AskBrian on the exit to think-cell
VC Funds, inter alia:
- amberra, Apex, Breega, EIC Fund, Headline, Join Capital, neoteq, NRW Bank, Peak, Project A Ventures, Samaipata and Ventech on investments in portfolio companies
- INKEF on the sale of Cardior to Novo Nordisk (volume: €1.025 billion)
- Ventech on the exit of 4Stop to Jumio and investments in portfolio companies
- Project A Ventures on exits of portfolio companies, i.a. the sale of Gabi to Experian (volume: $320 million), Eyeota to Dun & Bradstreet (volume: $165 million), and Klara to ModMed
Corporate Venture Capital Units and Family Offices, inter alia:
- REWE on investments in various portfolio companies, inter alia the $150 million financing round of Flink, the $61 million financing round of Formo and the $58 million financing round of Infinite Roots
- Lufthansa Innovation Hub on investments in various portfolio companies as well as the Lufthansa Group on the €20 million financing round of cargo.one
- Altana on the sale of dp polar to 3D Systems and on investments in various portfolio companies
- Katjesgreenfood on investments in various portfolio companies, inter alia the €36 million financing round of The Rainforest Company as well as the investment in and subsequent majority acquisition of mymuesli
- OBI SQUARED on the financing round and subsequent acquisition of a majority stake in CleanTech 42Watt
- alfa8 on various financing rounds, most recently the €28 million financing round of Hive
Qualifications
- German qualified attorney (Rechtsanwalt)
- Dr. iur. (Universität Köln)
- LL.M. (London School of Economics and Political Science)
- LL.M. (University of Marburg, Life sciences law)
Languages
- German
- English
- Closing Draghi’s Innovation Gap – Financing Innovation through Automotive Corporate Venture Capital,
Recht Automobil Wirtschaft (RAW) 2025, p. 2 et seq. (together with Paul Harenberg) [in German] - § 11 German Act on Advertising in the Healthcare Sector (HWG) and Social Media – Influencers as celebrity advertisers?,
PharmR 2021, p. 49 ff. (together with Dr Fee Mäder and Sophie-Christine Hebbinghaus) [in German] - Import of cannabidiol oil from EU member state,
LMuR 2021, p. 21 ff. [in German] - Application of Sections 113, 114 of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) to agreements between stock corporations and their contractual partners in which a supervisory board member is holding a share,
Der Betrieb (DB) 2020, p. 105 (together with Dr Peter Etzbach) [in German] - Virtual stock option plans of listed stock corporations,
Europäische Hochschulschriften Recht, Peter Lang, 2020 [in German] - Employee participation in startups – pros and cons of actual and virtual participation,
The LEGAL ®EVOLUTIONary, 6. August 2019 (together with Anna-Catharina von Girsewald) [in German] - Election of the Supervisory Board: Resolution not contestable on grounds of a deviation from GCGC recommendations,
Der Betrieb (DB) 2019, p. 775 (together with Dr Günter Seulen) [in German] - Equal treatment of the shareholders in a capital increase from authorised capital and exclusion of subscription rights,
Der Betrieb (DB) 2019, p. 358 f. (together with Dr Nefail Berjasevic) [in German] - Dismissal of supervisory board members by a court,
Der Betrieb (DB) 2018, p. 2868 f. (together with Dr Günter Seulen) [in German] - No actio pro socio of the limited partner against the third-party manager of a general partner GmbH,
Der Betrieb (DB) 2018, p. 1456 (together with Dr Peter Etzbach) [in German] - Limitation in the articles of association of the limited partner’s right of inspection pursuant to Sec. 166 para. 1 German Commercial Code,
Der Betrieb (DB), 2018, p. 881 (together with Dr Peter Etzbach) [in German] - No contestation in insolvency pursuant to Sec. 135 para. 1 No. 2 German Insolvency Code of withdrawals made by a limited partner from the company’s assets,
Der Betrieb (DB) 2017, p. 1957 (together with Dr Nefail Berjasevic) [in German] - Disbursement within the meaning of Sec. 30 para. 1 German Limited Liability Companies Act in case of a third-party claim against a shareholder secured by the company,
Der Betrieb (DB) 2017, p. 1438 (together with Dr Peter Etzbach) [in German] - The prohibited restitution of contributions by creating a security within the scope of an acquisition of shares,
Der Betrieb (DB) 2017, p. 1133 (together with Dr Peter Etzbach) [in German]
