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

Partner

Düsseldorf

Dr. Sven Greulich, partner at Orrick's Düsseldorf office, heads Orrick's Technology Companies practice in Germany and guides technology companies of all stages and their financial sponsors through transformational corporate transactions. These deals include venture capital financings, technology acquisitions, buy- and sell-side 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 and corporate advice. Since 2019, JUVE ranks Sven as one of Germany's top 15 attorneys for venture capital (the highest recognition for this category awarded by JUVE);
  • Legal500 recommends Sven in its 2023 ranking for "mid-sized international Corporate M&A deals (€100m-€500m)" and venture capital and lists him as an exceptional practitioner for venture capital;
  • Chambers recommends Sven for M&A as well as venture capital and lists him as an exceptional practitioner (2023);
  • Best Lawyers and Handelsblatt recommend him as top lawyer for M&A transactions (2023); and
  • 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”.

  • 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
    • Blossom Capital on investments in Kadmos, finmid, Buycycle and SuperX.
    • 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
    • GIC on various large-scale investments in the European ESG space, inlcuding Zolar, H2GS, Cerafiltec and Sunfire.
    • Energy Impact Partners on several early-stage and growth investments in German start-ups in the energy and sustainability start-ups, including Zolar, Grover, Instagrid
    • IVP on its investment in Kittl Technologies 
    • Equity family office Haniel on its investments in numerous German start-ups, including InFarm, Wandelbots, Sdui and 1Komma5°
    • Atomico on its investment in a German deep-tech startup
    • US listed company Skillz on a growth investment in and partnership with Exit Games
    • 3x Dax40, 2x MDax and several other German 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

    Company Side

    • Proxima Fusion on its Pre-Seed and Seed financing by UVC, Plural and Redalpine
    • 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
    • More than 50 university spin-outs on their incorporation and many of them in subsequent financing rounds, including automaited, Accure Battery Technologies, UMH, Biothrust, Elevear, Voltfang, Vivalyx, RIIICO, Lidrotec etc.
    • More than 40 German tech companies (including on their flip into a US holding structure as part of their admission to various US-based accelerator programs as well as on subsequent financing rounds (SAFE and equity), including Taktile, localyze, Gigs, PowerUs, Demodesk, Alpas, Sanvivo, Invitris, Flower Labs etc.

    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.
    • STEAG on multiple M&A projects, including the acquisition of a business division of GILDEMEISTER group, the acquisition of the Krantz-Business from Caverion and the divestment of STEAG Power Minerals to EPH
    • GEA Group on the acquisition of the sanitary pump producer HILGE from Grundfos Group and several other M&A projects