CEE Attorneys ̸ Boanță, Gîdei și Asociații Involved in Technology and Start-up Transactions Valued at 40 million EURO

CEE Attorneys/Boanță, Gîdei și Asociații announced that the firm has been assisting clients in 20 mergers and acquisitions transactions throughout the year in various areas and industries, of which half represent transactions in the technology area and start-ups. The total evaluation of the projects in the area of technology and start-ups is about 40 million EURO.

The most recent project was finalised a few days ago and consisted in CEE Attorneys/Boanță, Gîdei și Asociații having represented Sparking Capital in the project where the fund invested, together with two business angels, € 185,000 in BrightSpaces - a digital leasing platform and management of commercial spaces and one of the first investments in the property-tech niche in Romania.

CEE Attorneys/Boanță, Gîdei și Asociații consider that technology and start-ups are the fastest growing in the next five years, estimating a major interest from local capital, investors from the US and Asia, as well as a rapid development of the corporate venture capital segment.

“We have witnessed, over the past 2-3 years, an exceptional development in Romania of the ecosystem of technology start-ups or technology-based startups, characterized by the quality of ideas, the focus on innovation, the tendency of global scaling, the mature human capital involved in the ecosystem and the increased availability of the financial resources allocated to this sector. Having a practice with significant expertise in the field of technology, this was directly reflected in the firm’s operations, a percentage of about 20% of the activity being allocated to this industry”, explained Partner Krisztina Voicu.

"The technology and start-up area is extremely vast and our team is directly and constantly involved - whether we are talking about technology consolidated businesses (BullGuard) or niche start-ups - fintech (Pago), blockchain (Moonlet), software as technology (Bunnyshell) or investment in start-ups (V7 Capital or Sparking Capital). We believe that we have even managed to contribute to the acceleration of the ecosystem, while advising the founding teams or the investors involved in supporting start-ups - investment funds, business angels, strategic investors”, added Partner Sergiu Gîdei.

The technology and start-up team of CEE Attorneys/Boanță, Gîdei și Asociații includes four dedicated lawyers and is coordinated by Krisztina Voicu and Sergiu Gîdei, two of the most experienced lawyers in Romania in this sector.

A selection of the most important projects managed by CEE Attorneys/Boanță, Gîdei și in the area of innovative start-ups and hi-tech having global scalability include:

• The assistance offered to Bunnyshell, a major player in the block-chain field, in obtaining a 750,000 EUR financing from Early Game Ventures investment fund and a business angel.
• The assistance provided to 7Card founders (a leader in the field of wellness and sports services), in connection with the sale of the business to the French group Sodexo.
• The advice offered to the Xpediator Group (an integrated logistics, transport and technology group, listed on the London Stock Exchange), in relation to structuring the franchise of the technology division www.eshopwedrop.com, as well as advising on the global expansion of the franchise in Europe, Asia and US.
• The advice offered to Sparking Capital (a player specializing in early-stage start-up investments), regarding investments in the Evertoys, Techinfluence and BrightSpaces start-ups.
• The assistance provided to V7 Capital (start-up studio), in connection with investments in the Confidas, Wineful, Pluria, Flip and EasySales start-ups.