Carsten Schneider of Osborne Clarke presents the German public investment grant for business angels
Ecosummit TV: Carsten Schneider is a Partner of the law firm Osborne Clarke in Cologne, Germany. At ECO13 Berlin, he gives an overview of the new German law called “Investitionszuschuss Wagniskapital” that was launched on 15 May 2013 and is managed by BAFA (Federal Office of Economics and Export Control). The law constitutes a public venture capital subsidy for private investors that get a 20% investment grant for their investments into startups. The target group are business angels (natural persons or their solely owned investment vehicles that are based in the EU). As many angel rounds consist of a syndicate of angels, a single investor may get this grant for investments of maximum €250K per year. Per startup investments of up to €1M per year will be supported. Eligible startups must have their headquarter in the EU, a registered office in Germany, less than 50 employees and maximum €10M revenues. While Carsten believes that this grant will have an impact on shareholder agreements, it is a very good initiative for angels and the startups they support.
Read moreVolker Junghanns pitches global law firm Dentons
Ecosummit TV: Volker Junghanns pitches Dentons at ECO13 Berlin. Dentons is a newly created global law firm with 2.500 lawyers in 79 offices in 52 countries. Volker works out of the Frankfurt office and is the German contact for their global Tech Startup Center. Volker is passionate about cleantech and recommends to startups to work with lawyers that understand their business model and its challenges from early on. Whether we talk about relevant industry regulations, tax-optimised business organisation or negotiation skills during fundraising, a smart green lawyer is usually worth the investment.
Read moreOsborne Clarke’s Carsten Schneider discusses term sheets and other legal challenges
Ecosummit TV: As Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson write in Venture Deals, 2 key things matter in a term sheet negotiation: economics and control. Carsten Schneider is a German Partner at the European law firm Osborne Clarke. In his presentation at ECO12 Düsseldorf, he gives condensed legal advice to cleantech startups and also discusses term sheets. During the lifetime cycle of a cleantech startup from seed stage to exit usually a number of financing rounds take place during which the interests of the startup, existing and new investors have to be balanced in a smart and sustainable way. In fact, the relationship between founders and investors is exit-driven and entrepreneurs should understand what this means in reality – for them and their startup.
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