Isra-Mart srl:Simmons and Simmons offers helping hand to green startups

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Isra-Mart srl news:

Law firm Simmons and Simmons has this week launched a new dedicated service specifically designed to help green startups attract the investment required to build their core business without the risk of running up huge legal bills.

Dubbed the Cleantech Curve, the fixed-price service promises customers a hotline to Simmons and Simmons' legal team and round-the-clock online access to their legal documents.

It also offers advice on how to protect and commercialise new product ideas, as well as guidance on issues with which startups typically struggle, such tax and employment law, customer and supplier contracts, and securing premises.

Simmons and Simmons, which claims to be world's first international law firm to achieve carbon neutral status, said accessing legal guidance at an early stage and securing ongoing advice helps early-stage green firms avoid incurring higher fees at a later date, and can make them more attractive to investors.

Steve McNab, environment and climate change partner at Simmons and Simmons, said solid legal foundations should help promising startups bridge the finance gap that commonly prevents prototypes and demonstration projects from being commercialised.

"We know the pitfalls and challenges that new clean-tech companies face in their development, not least in raising finance to pay for development and commercialisation, and wanted to package our expertise to help new companies coming to market and those in the early stages," he said.

"Investors will be able to see that [young companies] have taken necessary precautions to protect their ideas and that they have the ambition to take their company to the next stage and beyond. It should give them confidence."

Simmons and Simmons is one of a growing number of firms offering professional services to the clean-tech sector.

For example, last month saw the launch of Nviro Insurance, a broker dedicated solely to the recycling and renewable energy industries, while a host of legal firms have launched dedicated clean-tech practices in recent years.