Colo­gne — A YPOG team led by Jens Kretz­schmann provi­ded compre­hen­sive legal and tax advice to Heart­felt on the struc­tu­ring and first closing of its new early-stage VC fund with a target volume of EUR 80 million. In addi­tion to estab­lished LPs, Axel Sprin­ger and Porsche again parti­ci­pa­ted in the closing as anchor investors.

With its fund, Heart­felt, like its prede­ces­sor struc­ture APX, will invest prima­rily in Euro­pean start-ups in their early-stage phase. Heart­felt invests in start­ups at the earliest possi­ble stage — often before the angel round. Initial invest­ments are up to EUR 100,000 and will be further increased until the Series A round if the start-ups show momen­tum and raise exter­nal capital.

About Heart­felt

Heart­felt is the new Berlin unit of the team of APX, a joint venture of Axel Sprin­ger and Porsche, which as an early-stage inves­tor also invests in Euro­pean, early-stage start-ups across sectors. Co-CEOs are Dr. Henric Hunger­hoff (photo © Porsche AG) and Jörg Rhein­boldt. www.heartfelt.capital

Consul­tant Heart­felt: YPOG

Jens Kretz­schmann (Lead, Funds), Part­ner, Berlin
Dr. Sebas­tian Schödel (Funds), Part­ner, Cologne
Dr. Andreas Bergt­hal­ler (Funds), Senior Asso­ciate, Cologne
Markus Alsdorf (Funds), Asso­ciate, Cologne
Dr. Carl Sieger (Tax), Asso­ciate, Cologne
Sylwia Luszc­zek (Legal Opera­ti­ons), Legal Project Mana­ger, Berlin

About YPOG

YPOG is a specia­list tax and commer­cial law firm opera­ting in the core areas of Funds, Tax and Tran­sac­tions. The YPOG team advi­ses a wide variety of clients. These include emer­ging tech­no­logy compa­nies and family-run medium-sized enter­pri­ses as well as corpo­ra­ti­ons and private equity/venture capi­tal funds. YPOG is one of the leading addres­ses for venture capi­tal, private equity and fund struc­tu­ring in Germany. The firm and its part­ners are natio­nally and inter­na­tio­nally ranked by JUVE, Best Lawy­ers, Legal 500, Focus, and Cham­bers and Part­ners. Today, YPOG employs more than 100 expe­ri­en­ced lawy­ers, tax advi­sors, tax specia­lists and a notary in three offices in Berlin, Hamburg and Colo­gne. www.ypog.law