German tech law firm YPOG opens Cambridge office at 9 Hills Road
German tech law firm YPOG has added a new Cambridge office to strengthen its UK service to provide legal support for scientific innovation and entrepreneurship at Europe's leading research locations.
YPOG – You + Partners of Gamechangers – is a tech-focused law and tax firm founded in 2021.
Headquartered in Berlin, the firm offers legal and commercial services with a payment model that combines traditional billable hours with alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) such as fixed-price subscriptions for certain services. The first international office was opened in London’s King’s Cross in September this year.
The specialisation on tech law focuses on venture capital, private equity, and fund structuring. Other core areas include tax, transactions, corporate, litigation, and intellectual property.
The Cambridge office at 9 Hills Road is dedicated to advising university spin-outs and science-oriented companies – particularly life sciences, healthtech, and deeptech.
The new office is headed by partner Susanna Stanfield and associated partner Mary Harley, who both joined in September. Both have many years of experience in venture capital and being at the interface between science and business and are particularly well connected in the Cambridge region.
Susanna is listed in the UK Legal 500 as a leading lawyer for venture capital in London and for corporate law in Cambridge and is part of the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) committee for the model form documents. Mary was promoted to Associated Partner on joining YPOG and is listed in the UK Legal 500 as a recommended lawyer for corporate law in Cambridge.
“Our presence in Cambridge is a logical next step in YPOG’s development into a European law firm for the technology and science industry,” says Dr Carola Rathke, co-managing partner at YPOG. “Cambridge is one of Europe’s most productive centers of innovation, with unique scientific excellence and a thriving ecosystem of spin-outs and investors. With Susanna and Mary we are ideally positioned to provide legal support for this dynamic environment.”
Parallel to the opening of the office, YPOG successfully completed its first mandate under the leadership of the Cambridge team and in collaboration with the London office: the law firm advised international investor Serendipity Capital on a seed financing round of £4.6million in the University of Birmingham’s quantum technology spin-out Delta g. Delta g develops quantum gravity gradiometers for use in navigation and environmental monitoring.
“Advising science-oriented companies and spin-outs is more than just a corporate transaction. It requires a deep understanding of research, patents, regulation, and growth capital,” notes Susanna Stanfield, partner at YPOG in Cambridge. “Our job is to help these pioneers translate scientific discoveries into successful business models in a secure, sustainable, and globally scalable way.”