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Dr. Sven Greulich, LL.M. (Cantuar), EMBA

Partner

Dusseldorf

Dr. Sven Greulich, partner at Orrick's Düsseldorf office, guides technology companies of all stages and their financial sponsors through transformational corporate transactions. These deals include venture capital financings, technology acquisitions, buy-out M&A of technology companies and strategic cross-border investments/JVs.

Sven advises technology companies on complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital as well as growth investments, and provides general corporate counseling.

His clients include technology companies of all stages and their investors. Supported by a global and cross-practice team, he also counsels major corporations and scale-ups on international expansion and growth projects and has a special focus on in- and outbound German/US investments and joint ventures.

Sven is passionate about building a bridge for his clients from Germany to the US and other international technology hubs and to help them succeed in the international market. With a dual background in business and law, an entrepreneurial spirit, and experience in over 200 M&A transactions and financing rounds across many industries, Sven has a unique perspective, which inspires him to find the best strategic and commercially viable solution for his clients.

Sven volunteers with entrepreneur groups at the WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management and the RWTH Aachen and regularly lectures at the WHU and the RWTH incubation and innovation centers on venture capital financings, start-up growth and corporate venture capital.

Sven's work has been repeatedly awarded, inter alia

  • the leading German market publication JUVE ranks him as "frequently recommended for M&A, PE/VC and corporate advice. In each of its yearbooks since 2019, JUVE named Sven as one of Germany's top 15 attorneys for venture capital (the highest recognition for this category awarded by JUVE);
  • the Legal500 Rankings EMEA for 2021 recommends Sven for “mid-sized international Corporate M&A deals (€100m-€500m)” and "Venture Capital Deals";
  • Best Lawyers and Handelsblatt recommend him as top lawyer for M&A transactions (2021);
  • Chambers Europe lists him as notable practitioner for venture capital (2021);
  • in the 2017 edition of its Innovative Lawyers Report Europe, the Financial Times named Sven's work to connect start-ups with Germany's Mittelstand (mid-sized companies) a standout “for making bridges between Silicon Valley and Germany”; and
  • since 2017, he has annually received the “Acritas Star Lawyer” award from the leading international legal research company Acritas based on clients' praise for Sven's responsiveness and business-oriented advice for technology companies.

  • His recent engagements include the following projects and transactions:

    Venture Capital and Corporate Venture Capital

    Investor Side

    • Coatue as (lead) investor in multiple large cap venture capital investments in some of Germany's best-known start-ups including N26, Gorillas Technologies and Choco Communications
    • Headline Ventures as largest investor in the merger of German fintechs Deposit Solutions and Raisin as well as a growth investment in a German proptech start-up
    • Goodwater Capital on its participation as co-lead in a 60m USD financing round of German e-scooter company TIER Mobility
    • Energy Impact Partners on several early-stage and growth investments in German start-ups in the energy and sustainability start-ups, including Zolar
    • Blossom Capital on various investments in German start-ups in the software sector
    • Equity family office Haniel on its investments in numerous German start-ups, including InFarm, Wandelbots and greenzero
    • Atomico on its investment in a German deep-tech startup
    • US listed company Skillz on a growth investment in and partnership with Exit Games
    • Dax40, MDax and German Mittelstand corporates on corporate venture capital investments and technology/team acquisition projects in the DACH region and the US as well as numerous investments in venture capital funds across the globe
    • Aesculap on its corporate venture capital investment in neuroloop, one of the largest university spin-outs in the medtech sector in Germany ever and various financing rounds of neuroloop as well as neuroloop on a major partnership with Merck KGaA

    Company Side

    • Camunda on raising a USD 100m Series B from Insight Capital and Highland Europe
    • Fintech scaleup auxmoney on its 150m EUR Series F led by Centerbridge
    • SaaS scaleup Contentful on its 80m USD Series E with lead investor Sapphire and the preceding Series D and Series C financing rounds
    • Healthcare start-up Kenbi on its Series A and Series B rounds led by Redalpine (Series A) and Endeavor (Series B) and with investments from Heartcore, e.ventures and Partech
    • 3D printing startup DyeMansion on its 14m USD Series B from Nordic Alpha Partners, BtoV and UnternehmerTUM
    • P2P lending platform creditshelf on its public listing on the Frankfurt stock exchange (Prime Standard) - Sven has been counsel to the company since its incorporation
    • DeepTech startup Accure Battery Technologies on its seed financing round led by Capnamic and 42cap as well as its USD 8m Series A led by Blue Bear Capital
    • More than 20 German tech companies (including Alpas, colabel, Demodesk, Gigs, Hypecloud, localyze.de, Mage App, Taktile and Talentfinder (d.b.a. PowerUs) on their flip into a US corporation as part of their admission to various US-based accelerator programs as well as on subsequent financing rounds (SAFE and equity)

    M&A

    • Qvest Media on its acquisition of a majority stake in US media systems company OnPrem
    • Deutsche Telekom on the establishment of an international joint venture with Zeiss Group to develop smart glasses
    • Multinational Kärcher group on its acquisition of SaaS company Service Partner One as well as various corporate venture capital investments
    • HAHN Group on the acquisition of robotic technology from US cobot robotic pioneer rethink robotics inc.
    • STEAGon the acquisition of a business division of GILDEMEISTER group
    • STEAG on the acquisition of the Krantz-Business from Caverion
    • STEAG on the divestment of STEAG Power Minerals to HAWAR Group
    • STEAG on the formation of a bidding consortium with Beijing Capital Group in their bid for power plants sold by EQT
    • GEA Group on the acquisition of the sanitary pump producer HILGE from Grundfos Group and several other M&A projects
    • Cisco on the establishment of a joint venture with ABB and Bosch to develop software standards for smart home applications
    • Quip on the acquisition of Kolumbus Personalmanagement and of mit-uns Personaldienstleistungen as part of a buy & build strategy

    Private Equity

    • BIP Investment Partners and Luxempart on the acquisition of ARWE Group (a leading European provider of mobility services for car rental and car sharing companies)
    • Luxempart on the acquisition of the leading Austrian education company Weidinger&Partner and subsequent buy&build acquisitions
    • Luxempart on its acquisition of a stake in German engineering company Rattay and subsequent buy&build acquisitions in the UK
    • Luxempart on various growth equity investments in the healthcare sector, including in Deutsche Fachpflege Gruppe (including subsequent exit thereof) and RIMED AG (a Swiss operator of radiology centers)