Novalia and year 2025 in the rearview mirror

For more than a decade, we have stood alongside Czech startups, investors, and ambitious companies, helping them grow and make important decisions with peace of mind. The year 2025 confirmed this once again: from investments in technological projects to strategic partnerships and the development of our litigation practice. Alongside our usual deals in the technology world, we also took on exotic transactions in the fields of football and flowers.

Deals

One of the most visible transactions of the year was a strategic partnership in digital healthcare. We represented the sellers in concluding a partnership between uLékaře.cz and Mavie (part of the UNIQA group). As part of the transaction, Mavie Next GmbH became the majority owner of uLékaře.cz, while the founding group MED21, led by MUDr. Tomáš Šebek, remains a significant shareholder. The transaction was handled by a team led by Pavel Marc and Tomáš Bachtík, with support from Kristina Geržová.

We advised the company Cross Masters on a strategic partnership with the private equity fund Genesis Capital Growth. The goal is to create a joint holding and support the further development of Cross Masters—in the areas of data architecture, BI, AI, and data analytics—including acquisition strategy and international reach. The team was led by partner Kamil Staněk.

With startups, we continued doing what we enjoy most: being part of the financing that enables the product and the company to move to the next level. The Czech startup RoboTwin raised roughly 30 million crowns in a pre-seed investment round and we were there—the legal side of the transaction was handled by Tomáš Bachtík and Jakub Císař.

We also participated in an investment in the startup Outfindo and the subsequent structural setup for expansion into the USA. We represented the investor Eleven Ventures (led by Jakub Císař and Bill Finney, together with Vojtěch Tancoš) and subsequently assisted Outfindo itself with the legal aspects of its American expansion. Other investors included Lighthouse Ventures and Borovicka Capital.

And with some clients, we are pleased that our collaboration is not a one-off, but long-term. With Snuggs, we were involved in another significant investment—130 million crowns for growth and expansion—marking our third joint transaction (following rounds in 2022 and 2023).

Perhaps surprisingly for some (since most of our stories revolve around technology): in 2025, we were also involved in transactions outside of the tech sector. We represented the founder of Kytky od Pepy in a sale to the franchise group Twistcafe Group, which encompasses concepts like Trdlokafe, Kofi-Kofi, or Bubblify.

And we returned to sports once again: we legally represented Matěj Turek (founder of the 10X fund), who increased his stake in FK Dukla Praha. After acquiring a stake the previous year, he acquired a shareholding from the previous owner Petr Paukner and became the majority owner of the club with 83%. The transaction was handled by a team consisting of Vojtěch Tancoš, Jakub Císař, and Kamil Staněk, together with the law firm Urban Hejduk.

Dispute Resolution: Victory in an International Arbitration with a Cyber Overlap

The year 2025 wasn't just about deal-making. The litigation team led by partner Markéta Kučerová Pechová achieved a significant result in an international commercial dispute resolved in arbitration. We represented a foreign food supplier from an African country in a dispute with a Czech buyer; the value of the dispute reached tens of millions of crowns. The core of the case was a hacker attack on email communication between the parties: attackers manipulated messages, changed payment details, and payments were diverted to third-party accounts. The dispute required extensive digital investigation, technical forensic analysis of emails, and the coordination of evidence from multiple countries. The tribunal recognized the legitimacy of our client's claim and ordered the buyer to pay the purchase price.

Novalia in the Ecosystem: Data, Discussion, and Sharing Experiences

Alongside our work on specific cases, we also want to be an active part of the environment in which our clients operate. In 2025, we became the main partner of angel investor research prepared by the investment group DEPO Ventures (which involved 156 respondents across the investment scene).

And we were also seen on stage: partner Jakub Císař spoke at Tech Happy Hours during Czech Startup Week and also at the TEDxPrague Salon "Pevný bod". He spoke about how the startup and technological ecosystem is changing, what this means for the legal frameworks of investments and IP, and where companies often underestimate "fixed points"—structure, readiness for change, and legal stability when a business is taking off.

People: Reinforcements and New Partner Promotion

The year 2025 also brought important internal milestones. Vojtěch Tancoš became a Partner in our firm. This fits into our long-term philosophy: every lawyer at Novalia has the opportunity to grow into a partnership and participate in the direction of the entire firm.

Talented Kristina Geržová became an Associate and already participated in significant transactions during her first year.

For 10 Years, Novalia Has Been Your Partner

When we started in 2015, the Czech market was quickly learning the language of venture capital and technology companies—and so were we. Novalia was founded as a "legal startup" out of the need to do transactions for new IT companies more practically and efficiently. Even the name captures this: "Novalia" means "new alliance"—and is also an Old English term for a newly cultivated land.

Just as important as our focus on clients was our internal setup from the very beginning. We have been cloud-based and mobile from the start; the office functions as a shared space without "assigned" chairs, and we often sit together around one large table—for sharing know-how and resolving matters quickly. And our partnership is built on simple principles: equity partnership, a transparent equation for partner shares, and minimal hierarchy. We nurture natural succession and an environment where new legal talents can grow.

If you have read this far and are missing the word AI, your wait is over. We do not pretend to know exactly what AI will do to a legal practice of our type. Day by day, we are working more intensively with available tools and changing our workflows based on what AI can already reliably do. We will continue to build our practice on trust, integrity, and people. People to whom we will provide the right AI tools and whom we will maximally support in developing AI skills based on shared best practices. The goal of our service is always to provide the greatest possible benefit to our clients.

Thank You

We thank our clients, partners, and colleagues for their trust and cooperation in 2025. We appreciate being able to be there for key moments—whether it's investments, strategic partnerships, expansions abroad, or complex disputes. We head into the next year with the same ambition: to do law in a modern, efficient, and human way.