Category: Estonia

Ellex has advised CybExer Technologies on its EUR 5 million funding round.

Founded in 2016, CybExer Technologies is a Tallinn-headquartered cybersecurity company. The company has experience in providing and maintaining highly sophisticated cyber security training platforms with a focus on cyber capability development.

According to the firm, the round was led by Karma Ventures who were joined by First Fellow Partners, Specialist VC, and select angel investors with deep cyber security industry experience. The funding will be used to “expand global operations and tackle the global cyber security skills gap,” Ellex informed. “The platform is planning to significantly bolster its team in the development, customer success, and sales organization and expand its global presence.”

“We believe that our technology clearly meets the current market demand,” CybExer CEO Andrus Kivisaar commented. “With such features as an on-demand library, operational technology, and visualization tools, our platform is very well positioned to respond to customer needs. Now, we are excited to bring on board a group of investors whose expertise in cyber security and operational scale-up will be an enormous catalyst for growth.”

The Ellex team included Counsels Antti Perli and Rudy Rimal.

Ellex did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

PwC Legal has successfully represented the interests of the West Tallinn Central Hospital in a public procurement-related financial correction dispute.

According to PwC Legal, “the circuit court annulled a recovery claim of EUR 270,000 submitted to the hospital by the State Shared Services Centre.”

“A financial correction is a percentage of structural assistance that has been paid to the recipient,” PwC Attorney Erki Fels explained. “If such assistance was given for the construction of a hospital or an academic building, one might have received millions of euros in assistance. This means in practice that disproportionate financial corrections may be ordered for infringements that did not, in all likelihood, cause any damage to anyone.”

“No entity that has received EU funds wants to hear the phrase ‘financial correction,’ because this means that one would have to go up against unseen forces,” said Fels. “While it is customary that the party claiming damages must prove both the existence and the amount of damages, this is not required in the case of a financial correction. An auditor need not prove the amount or even feasibility of damages.”

According to PwC Legal, “the circuit court explained in the judgment that a mere breach of public procurement norms was not enough to make a financial correction. An auditor must assess whether damaging the EU budget is likely. One must consider in this assessment the probability of the harmful consequence on the budget.”

PwC Legal’s team included Fels and Attorney Priit Latt.

Former Counsel Antti Perli, who specializes in advising venture capital funds and tech companies, has become a Partner with Ellex’s Estonia office.

According to Ellex, Perli’s experience with venture and private capital covers “hundreds of investment transactions … He has participated in establishing several business accelerators, drafting the Estonian regulation for limited partnership funds, and drafting other legislation relating to technology companies, including amendments to the Commercial Code relating to start-up companies and amendments to the taxation of share options.”

Perli has LLB and LLM degrees from the University of Tartu. He began his legal career at Ellex in 2001 and spent over ten years with the firm, before moving in-house to spend almost six years at SmartCap. Perli rejoined Ellex in 2017 as a Counsel.

“My first objective as a Partner at Ellex is to expand our team and use technology to a greater extent so that our people can dedicate more time to learning new things,” said Perli. “We want to be the state’s partner in developing a legal environment where, alongside risk mitigation, creating new opportunities is equally important. Risk mitigation has to have a precise aim – each regulation needs to address the problem so that entrepreneurship is not excessively restricted. The development of such competitive regulation requires significant resources, and we are definitely ready to work with the state on this.”

Sorainen has advised FoodDocs on raising USD 2.4 million in a Bonnier Ventures-led financing round, which included Forward Venture Capital and Spring Capital along with existing investor United Angels VC.

According to Sorainen, FoodDocs “helps serve safe food and make food safety rules easy to follow, offering one solution for all food safety tasks,” while this investment will help “solve food safety compliance issues, with the help of artificial intelligence.” The software company is based in Tallinn, Estonia.

Sorainen’s team included Counsel Lauri Liivat, Associates Vladislav Leiri and Kristi Tammiku, and Assistant Lawyer Eva Lennuk.

Sorainen did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

TGS Baltic has advised BaltCap on the sale of a 95% stake in BPT Real Estate to Newsec. Cobalt reportedly advised Newsec.

BaltCap is a private equity investor in the Baltic region. BPT Real Estate is a Baltic property management company.

Newsec is a full-service property house offering property asset management and advisory across Northern Europe.

According to TGS Baltic, “after the transaction, Newsec will manage more than 84 commercial real estate properties in the Baltic countries. Moreover, they will become the biggest independent real estate management company in the Baltics.”

TGS Baltic’s team included Partners Marius Matonis and Kadri Kallas and Associates Paulius Dabulskis, Mirko Kikkamagi, and Maris Vutt.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, Cobalt confirmed it had advised Newsec on the acquisition. The firm’s team included Partner Elijus Burgis, Managing Associate Deimante Pagiriene, and Associate Augustinas Petkevicius.

Sorainen, working with Orrick, has advised Veriff on its USD 100 million series C financing round, co-led by Tiger Global and Alkeon with the participation of existing investors IVP and Accel.

“The latest round brings Veriff’s total funding to USD 200 million and its valuation to USD 1.5 billion, making Veriff the ninth unicorn to be born in Estonia,” Sorainen informed. “The new financing will be used to accelerate Veriff’s global growth and invest in R&D, especially to advance product expansion. The company will also grow its sales and marketing teams to onboard more global clients and build on recent customer success programs.”

Founded in 2015, Veriff is an Estonian-headquartered global online identity verification company. The company serves a portfolio of organizations in the financial technology, crypto, and mobility sectors.

“Organizations and consumers needed to verify identities online more than ever before in 2021 – from onboarding remote employees, to creating a safe space for gaming in the metaverse, and conducting business fully online – which makes the establishment of digital trust and transparency incredibly critical,” Veriff CEO Kaarel Kotkas commented.

Sorainen previously advised Veriff on its USD 69 million Series B financing (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 19, 2021).

The Sorainen team was led by Senior Associate Mirell Prosa and included Partner Toomas Prangli.

The Orrick team included Partner John Bautista and Managing Associates Paul Klimos and Adam Krueger.

Sorainen did not respond to our inquiry on the matter.

Former Kaarma & Kaldvee Partner Rait Kaarma has joined Pohla & Hallmagi as Partner and Head of Tax. Also joining with Kaarma, from his old firm, is Attorney Elena Lass.

Before joining Pohla & Hallmagi, Kaarma spent over seven years at the helm of the Kaarma & Kaldvee Law Office. Prior to that, he headed Deloitte Legal Estonia for a year, between 2013 and 2014. Even earlier, he spent a year and a half with Lawin and another seven and a half with Alvin Roedl & Partner, from 2004 to 2012.

Kaarma holds an LLB degree from the University of Tartu.

Fort has advised Cornada on its acquisition of the Georg Ots Spa Hotel in Kuressaare, Estonia, from East Capital Real Estate. Ellex advised East Capital.

Financial details were not disclosed.

The building covers a total area of over 6,600 square meters. According to Fort, “the Georg Ots Spa Hotel opened its doors in 2004 and was the first wellness spa in Estonia. It has 92 rooms, a spa, a wellness and conference center, and a top-class restaurant with scenic sea views. The hotel was fully renovated in 2014-2015.”

East Capital Real Estate is a real estate manager that focuses on commercial real estate investments in the Baltics and Central Europe, primarily in the logistics, office, retail, and hospitality sectors.

Fort’s team included Partner Minni-Triin Park, Attorneys Liina Kais and Margus Koiva, and Tax Counsel Ivo Vanasaun.

Ellex’s team included Partner Martin Kaerdi and Associate Karin Tartu.

Sandra-Kristin Karner was appointed Equity Partner at Walless, while Edgar-Kaj Velbri has been promoted to Associate Partner at the firm.

According to Walless, Karner is “a recognized expert in criminal law as well as in civil litigation and a valued lecturer at the University of Tartu.” She was a Senior Associate with Derling Primus, since 2020, before joining Walless through the firms’ merger. Earlier, she was a Senior Associate with Ellex Raidla, between 2014 and 2019. Karner holds LLB and LLM degrees from the University of Tartu.

A former Senior Associate, Velbri is the Head of Energy Law at Walless. According to the firm, he is “an experienced advisor in energy-related projects and disputes.” He also joined Walless through the merger with Derling Primus, where he had spent almost five years as an Attorney at Law. Earlier, he was an Associate with Tark Grunte Sutkiene for three years, between 2014 and 2016. Velbri too is a University of Tartu graduate.

“The greatest value of a law firm rests in good relations with clients and smart, hardworking lawyers. It is a great pleasure to announce Sandra and Edgar-Kaj’s next step in their career,” Walless Estonia Managing Partner Piret Kergandberg said of the appointments.

Pohla & Hallmagi, working with Osborne Clarke, has advised GeneCode on a EUR 2 million R&D grant from Enterprise Estonia for the acceleration of its GDNF Mimetics program.

Enterprise Estonia is a part of the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency, with an objective to develop the Estonian economy and businesses by evolving business models and boosting innovation, increasing export capacity, attracting high value-added foreign investment. and increasing tourism revenue. 

GeneCode is a private pharmaceutical development company focused on the development of disease-modifying therapeutics to combat neurodegeneration.

According to GeneCode, Enterprise Estonia has confirmed its support for an applied research program to develop a small molecule glial cell line, Derived Neurotrophic Factor mimetics, for the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease and other indications. The applied research program has been created to help companies invest in early research and development to benefit from new or significantly improved technologies, products, and services and generate more profit. 

Pohla & Hallmagi’s team included Partners Juri Ploom and Toivo Viilup.