Osborne Clarke advises DTCF, NordicNinja, Greencode and Segenia Capital on financing round for LiveEO

Osborne Clarke has provided legal advice to investors DTCF (DeepTech & Climate Fonds), NordicNinja, Greencode and Segenia Capital in connection with a new financing round of more than EUR 28 million in the geodata and AI start-up LiveEO. The round is structured as the first tranche of a larger financing and is intended to facilitate the further expansion of LiveEO’s international business as well as the development and deployment of its own satellite constellation.

Berlin-based LiveEO was founded in 2018 by Sven Przywarra and Daniel Seidel. The company uses artificial intelligence to analyse satellite data and aims to monitor critical infrastructure such as power lines, pipelines, rail networks and other utilities infrastructure from space. On the basis of Earth observation data, LiveEO supports civil, commercial and, increasingly, security- and defence-related clients in the early detection of risks, for example through vegetation management, forest fire prevention or the monitoring of linear infrastructure for structural changes.

The new financing round increases the total financing volume in LiveEO disclosed to date to over EUR 72 million. In addition to the investors advised by Osborne Clarke, further new and existing investors participated, including among others HELANTIC, b2venture, the European Innovation Council funds (EIC) as well as existing venture capital investors from previous rounds. A key focus for the use of funds is the development and planned launch of the Twinspector constellation, LiveEO’s own Earth observation fleet, which is intended to provide high-resolution 3D image data of specific infrastructure corridors.

With Twinspector, LiveEO aims to further vertically integrate the value chain from data collection through to AI-supported analysis. Higher temporal resolution and better image quality are intended to further improve automated detection and forecasting models in order to provide grid operators, utilities and public authorities with even more precise decision-making bases for inspections, maintenance and resilience planning. Against the backdrop of increasing investment in space infrastructure, growing demand for geo-based risk data and sharply rising defence spending, LiveEO is addressing a dynamic market with demanding regulatory requirements.

Comprehensive advice to the investors on venture capital and structuring issues

Osborne Clarke advised DTCF, NordicNinja, Greencode and Segenia Capital on all material legal aspects of the financing round. The focus was in particular on structuring the first tranche as part of a larger overall financing, the drafting and negotiation of the investment and shareholders’ documentation, as well as corporate law and investment-specific issues in connection with the entry of new investors and the continuation of existing shareholdings.

The advice also covered coordination with public funding and financing instruments, in particular with regard to the specific features of deep tech and dual-use investments in the space and defence context. By combining transaction expertise in the venture capital field with a deep understanding of regulated technology markets, tailor-made, growth-oriented solutions were developed for the investors.

The Osborne Clarke team for DTCF, NordicNinja and Greencode was jointly led by Giovanni Alexandrov and Benjamin Monheim (Partner responsibility) and also included Espen Schneider. Segenia Capital was advised under the lead of Robert Marx and with Robin Eyben as responsible Partner (all Corporate / Venture Capital).