Frankfurt/Main / Leipzig – Smart Infrastructure Ventures Fund I GmbH & Co KG, which describes itself as the first private venture capital fund in the former East Germany, has been formally launched. On 8 July 2019, it secured the backing of a number of well-known investors, including Leipzig-based energy group VNG AG and Sächsische Aufbaubank SAB. The fund focuses on smart infrastructure as a high growth area, concentrating especially on start-up teams with scalable business models in the smart city, energy, e-health and related sectors. The fund will invest throughout Germany and seeks to acquire equity interests in the low double-digit million range.
A CMS team headed by lead partner Dr Daniel Voigt advised the fund initiators on all legal aspects of launching the fund. This advice included the formation of an investment management company registered with the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) and the launch and documentation of the fund, including coordination with the anchor investors.
The initiators behind the fund are Dr Eric Weber, the founder of SpinLab – The HHL Accelerator, and business angels Björn Bauermeister and Dirk Frohnert. SpinLab and the HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management start-up hub are part of the fund’s network. More than 280 start-ups have emerged from HHL over the past 20 years. The Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (a business-led association for the promotion of the humanities and sciences in Germany) recognised HHL as Germany’s leading start-up institution for the fourth year in a row in 2018. CMS has been working with Leipzig’s SpinLab for several years, including providing support for company founders through workshops and legal advice solutions for start-ups.
CMS Germany
Dr Daniel Voigt, Lead Partner, Banking & Finance
Dr Tillman Kempf, Partner
Yvonne Hohler, Associate, both Tax
Dr Jochen Lux, Partner
Peter Ollesch, Senior AssociateAlisa Mathes, Associate, all Corporate/M&A
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