From zero to exit in 4 years, with EMBARK.LAW as our trusted legal partner
We’ve been working with EMBARK.LAW since the idea of bestsmile was born. We founded bestsmile with them, raised several seed rounds and the Series A together, and now they managed our exit. During that whole time, EMBARK.LAW has always kept up with our speed. Not something everybody can do. Startups are all about speed, something new needs to happen at least weekly or you’re too slow. We also appreciate the business focus of EMBARK.LAW. They set the necessary priorities, are solution-oriented and tailor their advice to the full inbox and agenda of a founder. As for the exit, EMBARK.LAW managed that efficiently and with foresight, as always. I have already launched a next startup project, once again working with EMBARK.LAW. It’s important to have the right people on board from the start, people who want to be successful with you and go all in to achieve that. The EMBARK.LAW team is definitely on that list.
Ertan Wittwer, Co-founder Best Smile AGServices for Startups
Legal services for startups in all stages of development. We help you overcome your legal challenges so you can realize your startup’s full potential and do great things.
Be it financing rounds, intellectual property, data protection, employee incentive plans, or other legal matters – we’ll make sure the interests of your company are protected.
Services for Investors
The Swiss startup ecosystem is growing and getting more sophisticated. As a business angel, venture capitalist or manager of a corporate venture fund, you’re a crucial part of this development. Let’s make sure your legal interests are protected while you’re setting up or growing your investment portfolio.
About Us
We’re a small tech-savvy team with a big network of local and international partners.
We believe in people who are bold enough to explore their full potential and create their own place in this world. People who are willing to venture beyond the obvious and see the countless possibilities at the horizon.
People like you who found, run and invest in startups.
We counsel startups in all stages of development to help them overcome their legal challenges. We also assist angels, venture capitalists and corporate venture funds, and advise them on their legal setup and portfolio investments.
With dual qualifications in Swiss and U.S. law and in-depth know-how in industries such as financial services & FinTech, IT, real estate and MedTech as well as the public sector, we are at your side to help you do the great things you’re aiming for.
There’s one thing we don’t do, though: Speak legalese. We’ll explain the documents and the legal matters to you in plain language and will always keep you in the loop.
Need to move fast? We can keep up! We’re based in Switzerland, but we are wherever you are. We use video calls to keep the communication fast and flexible and hold most of our meetings remotely. If getting together in person feels like a better option, we’re also happy to meet you at your Swiss office or at another convenient location.
Michel Kertai
VC & Startup Lawyer
Attorney-at-law, admitted to practice in Switzerland and California
Co-founder of EMBARK.LAW AG
Member of the EMBARK.LAW management team
Education:
LL.M, UC Berkeley School of Law, California, USA
MLaw, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Languages:
German, English, French, Hungarian
Tarik Salkim
Legal Advisor Startups & VC
Education:
Dipl.-Jur., First State Exam (“erstes Staatsexamen”) with great distinction, Julius-Maximilians University of Würzburg, Germany
Languages:
German, English, Turkish
Dario Kvasnicka
Legal & Executive Assistant
Education:
MLaw, Universities of Fribourg and Bern, Switzerland
Languages:
German, English, French, Indonesian
Thomas van Gammeren
Legal Advisor Startups & VC
Education:
LL.M, UC Berkeley School of Law, California, USA
MLaw, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Languages:
German, English, Italian
Experienced and pragmatic
We worked with EMBARK.LAW in all of our financing rounds since founding bestsmile (several seed rounds and the Series A). We appreciate their clear, efficient and lean process and the direct communication. EMBARK.LAW manages the negotiations with our investors in a solution-oriented and pragmatic way and creates trust between the parties right from the start. You can tell the amount of experience involved. And this is also why I always enjoy fine-tuning our fundraising strategy together.
Philip Magoulas, CFO and Co-Founder Best Smile AGTHE law firm for tech startups
We founded Animatico in 2019 as an ETH spin-off with the mission to create the next-generation human-computer interface through stylized AI avatars. EMBARK.LAW was our go-to law firm from our seed round all through our recent exit. They helped us set up a solid IP strategy, created user-friendly contracts for us (e.g. for our customers) and managed our financing round professionally and smoothly. When Animatico was acquired by a US tech giant, they went all in for us, had our back during the negotiations and made sure our interests were protected. They delivered their usual excellent quality work all through the high-pressure, high-stakes process of the exit.
One thing we particularly valued when working with EMBARK.LAW were their simple and thorough explanations. Understanding all the details of the situation and their implications helped us take our decisions with confidence. We’re also grateful that they always made sure everybody knew who was doing what until when. Knowing that they were thinking along allowed us to free our minds for other things.
Pascal Bérard, Christian Schüller and Riccardo Roveri, Co-founders Animatico AGFast. Easy-going. Highly motivated.The team of EMBARK.LAW is fun to work with. We appreciate their speed and simplicity in communication and processes. They help us focus on our core competencies and enable us to move forward faster.
Daniel Koss, Founder and CEO creable AGFrom zero to exit in 4 years, with EMBARK.LAW as our trusted legal partner
We’ve been working with EMBARK.LAW since the idea of bestsmile was born. We founded bestsmile with them, raised several seed rounds and the Series A together, and now they managed our exit. During that whole time, EMBARK.LAW has always kept up with our speed. Not something everybody can do. Startups are all about speed, something new needs to happen at least weekly or you’re too slow. We also appreciate the business focus of EMBARK.LAW. They set the necessary priorities, are solution-oriented and tailor their advice to the full inbox and agenda of a founder. As for the exit, EMBARK.LAW managed that efficiently and with foresight, as always. I have already launched a next startup project, once again working with EMBARK.LAW. It’s important to have the right people on board from the start, people who want to be successful with you and go all in to achieve that. The EMBARK.LAW team is definitely on that list.
Ertan Wittwer, Co-founder Best Smile AGA true partner at our side
EMBARK.LAW acts like an extended arm of our team. We can rely on them to be proactive and think strategically with us. They are a true partner on our side, anticipating our needs and letting us know where it’s important to step up our game. So we don’t have to constantly keep track of what needs to be done. Furthermore, we are impressed with how the team combines hard-hitting legal expertise with a deep understanding for pragmatic solutions and processes for startups.
Jan Rihak, Founder and CEO Europe Classtime AGSpeedy and smooth incorporation
I have nothing but praise for the way EMBARK.LAW managed our incorporation. Despite time pressure, everything went swimmingly. It’s a pleasure to work with such a reliable partner. We will happily recommend you to other founders. Also, thank you for the Legal Launch Kit with the helpful tools for new companies. It’s great that you provide these templates and checklists, and it once again illustrates your approach of supporting and accompanying the companies in the best possible way.
Want to work together?
If you’re interested in working with us, please email us a:
We’ll get back to you as soon as possible to discuss your goals and how we can help you achieve them.