Noerr advises Schwarz Group companies on financing of German AI startup Aleph Alpha

A Noerr team led by our partners Maurice Séché and Gerald Reger has provided extensive advice to companies in the Schwarz Group during the second financing round for the Heidelberg-based startup Aleph Alpha. The challenge in this matter stemmed from the need to design complex structures in the areas of corporate, digital, tax and non-profit law, and particularly from structuring the open-source research associated with the investment.

The financing round was one of the largest for a European company in the field of artificial intelligence, totalling more than $500 million. Under the leadership of Schwarz Group companies and Dieter Schwarz Stiftung gGmbH’s Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (IPAI), the investment is intended to promote AI technology in accordance with European data protection standards and help Aleph Alpha compete with OpenAI and large corporations such as Microsoft and Google. Aleph Alpha, which was founded in 2019, develops large language models with AI functions similar to OpenAI with ChatGPT. However, it has specialised in applications for public administration and industry with its in-house Luminous software.

The Schwarz Group, based in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, is one of the world’s leading retail groups and employs 575,000 people in 32 countries.

Advisors to the Schwarz Group companies: Noerr Partnerschaftsgesellschaft mbB

Lead: Maurice Séché (partner, Corporate, Dusseldorf), Gerald Reger (partner, Corporate, Munich, joint lead),

Corporate: Sebastian Voigt (partner, Dresden), Moritz Koch (associated partner, Hamburg), Georg Langheld (associated partner, Munich), Dominique Finke (senior associate, Dusseldorf), Christian Haagen (senior associate, London), Tobias Thiermann (associate, Munich), Jan Lohse (associate, Hamburg)

Digital Business/IT: Tobias Bosch (partner, Berlin), Thomas Thalhofer (partner, Munich), Marvin Bartels (senior associate, Berlin), Marieke Merkle (senior associate, Munich), Raphaël Hebecker (senior associate, London), Niklas Maamar (associate, Berlin)

Tax/Non-profits: Carsten Heinz (partner, Munich), Michael Tommaso (partner, Berlin), Peter Scheuch (associated partner, Dresden), Frank Schuck (associated partner, Munich), Paul Gurr (senior associate, Berlin), Constanze Wetzel (associate, Munich)

Regulatory: Kathrin Westermann (partner, Berlin), Robert Pahlen (counsel, Berlin), Steffen Sundermann (associate, Berlin)

Employment: Stefan Schwab (partner, Berlin), Peter Körlings (senior associate, Hamburg), Katharina Schwarz (associate, Hamburg)

IP: Christoph Rieken (partner, Munich), Katja Steinthaler (senior associate, Munich)

Litigation: Hans Christian Kirchner (partner, Berlin)

Schwarz Group (in-house): Georg Heiß, Patrick Winter (Corporate), Marcus Hillen, Manuel Schroth (Tax), Dr Bianca Vogt (Antitrust)