Start up your ideas with ZENK

ZENK Rechtsanwälte accompanies start ups in the digital health (Berlin) and food (Hamburg) sectors, hands on and efficiently geared to the operative business, but also with foresight for their development.

You bring the ideas for innovative products – we provide the professional competence to support you in the realization! You are about to launch a new product, the long-awaited trade listing or the first warning flashes in the house? We offer the necessary toolbox to help you overcome all legal hurdles!

digital health start ups/ medtech

Digital solutions in the field of medtech are making widespread inroads into the healthcare sector. It is challenging to succeed in the “digital health” ecosystem. Start ups develop highly innovative software and hardware in an extremely demanding environment. A dense network of qualitative and regulatory requirements guarantees product safety, but restricts market access at the same time. Those who want to make it here need perseverance and reliable business partners.

ZENK advises – sustainably and with pragmatism – companies in the medtech industry and related life sciences on their way into the market and the structuring of their contractual relationships.

One focus is on the successful contractual design of partnering models between start-ups and established companies. We have expertise in the drafting of simple project contracts, research and development contracts, usage agreements for joint facilities (scientifically qualified coworking spaces), as well as in the design of complex joint venture structures or participation models. In the course of our work we successfully implement individually developed partnering models.

Event “Think Lab “Partnering in Digital Health” @ Factory Berlin Görlitzer Park

The event will be postponed to a later date, as the speakers are not allowed to travel due to operational regulations in connection with the coronavirus. We will communicate the new date in due time. If you would like to be added to the event mailing list in the meantime, please send an email with your contact details to janoschka@zenk.com.

The “Think Lab Partnering in Digital Health” connects market participants and ecosystem experts to discuss and exchange experiences. Do’s and don’ts in every phase of operational and strategic collaboration are highlighted.

The Digital Health ecosystem is innovation-driven and complex. Partnering business models located there between start ups and established medium-sized companies can form a successful basis and create the right mix of consistency and flexibility to survive in a highly competitive environment. The establishment and operation of a digital health company is challenging. The creation and protection of innovations requires high investments. At the same time, market entry is often a challenge and the regulatory burden is higher than in other industries. Cooperations between start ups and established, medium-sized companies (“grown ups”) prove to be very efficient in overcoming such challenges to the benefit of both sides.

In the ZENK Think Lab Session, market participants and experts will present and discuss practical partnering approaches in the field of Digital Health, showing how start ups and “grown ups” can approach each other on an equal footing and leverage dormant potential.

Date and time The event will be postponed from 26 March 2020 | 6:30 p. m. to a later date

Location Factory Berlin Görlitzer Park | Lohmühlenstraße 65 | 12435 Berlin

Program english german

Life Sciences / Food Start ups

Especially in the food sector, start up founders and young entrepreneurs are faced with high demands.

Specifications for product safety and product labelling must be respected. Stable financing and the right corporate legal form are necessary. How can they communicate their advertising messages to their customers without being penalised for doing so? We support founders in all these questions.

ZENK is a law firm with tradition, young spirit and decades of expertise in the food industry. We advise on food law, industrial property rights – i.e. patents, trademarks and designs – as well as on labour law and all corporate law issues, in particular with regard to start-ups and financing rounds.

ZENK and Pahnke Open Kitchen, the start up service of Pahnke Markenmacherei, launched an accelerator program for FMCG-start ups under the name “GROWTH DOCK”.

GROWTH DOCK – Business Builder for FMCG Start ups

The GROWTH DOCK, founded by ZENK and Pahnke Open Kitchen, the start up advisory unit of Pahnke Markenmacherei, advises consumer goods start-ups in the pre-seed phase and provides support with a mix of start-up financing and professional services in the areas of marketing, brand building, communication, sales, product compliance, intellectual property rights (brand, design, slogan), labor law and corporate law (shareholder structure and financing rounds).

What exactly does the GROWTH DOCK do?

The GROWTH DOCK provides the knowledge, experience and manpower of around 300 professionals – a business builder who provides the proof of concept for individual business cases. On the one hand, the business should be made fit for the market and, on the other hand, potential investors should be offered security.

A maximum of 4-5 start ups per year are included in the program. After six to eight months of joint work, the growth dock should be completed and the start up ready for market entry.

Our partner Dr. Bastian Schmidt-Vollmer is an active member of the GROWTH DOCK board. The foundation of GROWTH DOCK was announced in an interview with the publishing house New Business (March 2020).