Schoenherr advised GROPYUS, the Vienna-headquartered technology-based construction company, on its latest EUR 100m financing round, bringing the company's total received investments to around EUR 400m since its founding in 2019. According to public information, this is the largest venture capital financing round in Austria in 2026 to date and marks GROPYUS' third successive EUR 100m round.

Schoenherr advised the venture capital firm Marathon on the EUR 1.1m seed financing round for the Linz-based start-up Straion FlexCo. Straion FlexCo has developed an artificial intelligence solution that specialises in validating programmed code and assessing whether it complies with legal regulations and internal company guidelines.

Schoenherr advised Orkla Food Ingredients, a leading European supplier of food ingredients, on its entry into an agreement to acquire Senna, a leading Austrian producer of margarine, specialty fats, oils, sauces and dressings. Through this transaction, Orkla Food Ingredients strengthens its position in the Central and South-East European (CSE) region and establishes new market positions in both Austria and Italy.

Welcome to our monthly CEE White Collar Crime Law update. With this newsletter, we aim to provide a concise and up-to-date overview of recent case law and other trends and developments in the field of white collar crime law in the CEE region

Keeping track of what is allowed when it comes to green claims, labels and images has become increasingly difficult for advertisers in recent years. While EU lawmakers have invested considerable effort in their fight against "greenwashing", i.e. misleading environmental advertising, the results have left room for confusion.

Within the framework of the "Coordinated Enforcement Framework", the data protection authorities of the EU Member States, together with the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), set the authorities' annual audit priorities. In recent years, audits have focused on the use of cloud services by public bodies, the implementation of the right of access, and, last year, the right to erasure at hundreds of companies.[1] These audits have directly led to numerous administrative penalty proceedings were initiated ex officio, often resulting in fines. Both SMEs and large companies have been audited.

An employee who asks a chatbot, "How can we align our prices with our main competitor without being detected?" may be handing the competition authority exactly the evidence it needs. Chat histories with artificial intelligence models can be seized during a dawn raid, and their content may be interpreted as evidence of anti-competitive intent. The consequence? Fines of up to 10 % of the company's registered turnover.

In its judgment of 10 September 2025 (Case T-288/24, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe), the General Court delivered an important ruling on the registrability of short musical jingles as sound marks. This decision has significant practical implications for companies seeking to establish a recognisable acoustic brand identity.