Agefi Luxembourg - novembre 2025

AGEFI Luxembourg 36 Novembre 2025 Droit / Emploi E n clôture de la 3 e éditiondes Luxem- bourgVentureDays, l’événement- phare de l’écosystème organisé les 22 et 23 octobre par Luxinnovation, avec le soutien de la LPEA (Luxembourg Private Equity& VentureCapitalAssociation), les noms des 20 startups qui participeront, début 2026, à la 16e éditionduprogramme d’accélération Fit 4 Start ont été officiellement dévoilés. Lemi- nistre de l’Économie, des PME, de l’Énergie et duTourisme, LexDelles, a par ailleurs an- noncé le lancement d’unnouveaupro- gramme sur-mesure pour aider les startups à dépasser le stade de l’amorçage. Suite à l’appel à candidatures qui s’était déroulé cet été, un nombre record de 495 candidatures de star- tups provenant de 61 pays avait été retenus. Le Luxembourg, laCorée du Sud, le Royaume-Uni, les États-Unis et l’Allemagne étaient, à ce stade, lespays les plus représentés parmi les postulants. Au cours des Luxembourg Venture Days, elles sont 65, actives dans les secteurs dudigital, des technolo- giesde la santéoude l’espace, àavoirpitchépendant deux journées intenses. Au final, le jury en a retenu 20 : 10 dans le digital, 5 dans les technologies de la santé et 5 dans l’espace. L’annonce de la sélection fi- nale a constitué le point d’orgue de la cérémonie de clôture de l’événement, en présence de S.A.R. le Grand-Duc et de LexDelles, ministre de l’Économie, des PME, de l’Énergie et du Tourisme. Avec près de 3400participants sur les deux jours de conférence, les Luxembourg Venture Days s’affirment comme un événement internationalmajeurpour lamiseenrela- tiondesstartupsetdesscaleupsaveclesinvestisseurs. Lors de son allocution, le ministre Delles a souligné : « Le programme Fit 4 Start est un pilier essentiel de notre stratégie pour les startups.Avec un nombre re- cord de 495 candidatures, dont 60 % provenant de l’étranger, cette 16e édition confirme le rayonnement international du Luxembourg comme écosystème d’innovationenEurope.Lefaitqueceprogrammeait reçu la certification officielle ‘EICplug-in scheme’ de lapartduConseileuropéendel’innovation,luidonne une dimension supplémentaire. » Cette certification facilite désormais l’accès des star- tups, dont l’excellence a été prouvée, aux finance- ments européens.Ainsi, les startupsdiplôméesdeFit 4 Start peuvent désormais passer directement à la deuxième étape de sélectionde l’EICAccelerator. « Cela signifie moins d’étapes administratives, un accès plus rapide aux financements de l’Union eu- ropéenne et une voie plus efficace pour développer leur innovation dans toute l’Europe », s’est réjoui le ministre. Les startups sélectionnées sont : Digital CryptaCount (Luxembourg) Djooky (Ukraine) MobileAIWaste Scan (CRAB) (Luxembourg) MoveMe (Luxembourg) Offinite (Luxembourg) PanIAM(Luxembourg) RoasterCup (Luxembourg) Scrioo (Luxembourg) TentaVision (Allemagne) WiziPet (Luxembourg) Technologies de la santé AutiHD (Luxembourg) CalorAI (Luxembourg) Hale-X (Luxembourg) LihouryProject (Luxembourg) Sendance (Autriche) Espace BabAIOrbital (Estonie) Lyrasense (Grande-Bretagne) Muotech (Pologne) Spargo Space (États-Unis) Tumi Robotics Space (Luxembourg) Initié en 2015 par leministère de l’Économie, le pro- grammed’accélérationFit 4 Start est gérépar Luxin- novation, en collaboration avec le Technoport, la LuxembourgSpaceAgency,leLuxembourgCityIn- cubator, laLuxembourgHouseof Financial Techno- logy, la Luxembourg House of Cybersecurity et LuxProvide. Il consiste enunaccompagnement spé- cialiséd’uneduréede sixmois, ainsi qued’unfinan- cement individuel de 50.000 euros de la part du ministère de l’Économie. Celles parmi ces sociétés qui termineront le programme et qui réussiront à lever des fonds pourront recevoir jusqu’à 100.000 euros supplémentaires d’aides étatiques. Lancement du programme Fit 4 Scale Conformément aupland’actionen10pointspour le développement des startups, scaleups et de l’écosys- tème, le ministre Lex Delles a par ailleurs annoncé, après une phase-pilote, le lancement officiel dupro- grammeFit 4Scale, développéparLuxinnovationet leministèrede l’Économie, encollaborationavecdes partenairesde l’écosystème. Fit 4Scale est une initia- tiverépondantaubesoinidentifiéd’unaccompagne- ment sur mesure pour aider les startups à dépasser le stade de l’amorçage et à se préparer au finance- ment de sérieA (la première levée de fonds signifi- cative qui suit généralement la phase d’amorçage). L’appel à candidature sera lancédans lesprochaines semaines et le programme, qui vise à soutenir 5 sca- leups pendant 9mois dans l’expansionde leurs acti- vités dans l’UE, commencera en février 2026. Source : ministère de l’Économie / Luxinnovation 20 startups sélectionnées pour le programme Fit 4 Start #16 ©MECO ByRégisBONNAN&AlainGREC,ProfileInvestment (B) The added value of an external and objective litigation assessment I t is not only the criteria selection that matters but also themethod and spirit inwhich the criteria are examined. The method includes making several preliminaryimportantassumptions to maximize the objectivity of the assessment,throughouttheanalyti- cal process. Inparticular: - The litigants’ respectivebehaviors are assumed to be rational and symmetrical, unless concrete and substantiatedelementssupportadif- ferent assumption; - Each party is assumed to have or to be able to gain accesstoanequivalentlevelofknowledgeonthemat- tersatissue,andonthelaw(bothsubstantiveandpro- cedural); - Each party is assumed to bear equivalent litigation costs and expenses and to know of their magnitude. However, their respective cost vulnerabilities should be assessed specifically if the size or solvency of one partydiffers significantly fromthe other’s; - Each party is assumed to be aware of how the dis- closureofcriticalinformationduringtheproceedings may impact the case and/or its value; - Each party is assumed to have equal bargaining power, unless substantiateddifferently; -Theclaim’sfinalexpectedvalueisdefinedasfollows: (i) where the assessment is made on the claimant’s side, itwill consist of the expectedvalue of the proce- dural outcome, itself discountedby reduction factors specifically linked to the anticipated enforcement characteristics andhurdles; (ii)where the assessment ismade on the respondent’s side, itwill consist of the expectedvalueoftheproceduraloutcomeintheevent theclaimantsuccessfullyestablishesliability,provided the legal assessment supports this latter assumption; - Profile Investment assumes that nophysical or legal person can be compelled to a settlement. The law or contractual dispute resolution provisions may well provide a compelling conflict resolutionmechanism, andpressurewilloftenbeexertedinasituationofcon- flict, but reaching a voluntary settlement ultimately depends onone’s freewill; - The analysis takes into consideration all relevant in- formation available at the time of the assessment, not potential information that may subsequently be dis- closed fromone litigant to the other as this variable is in essence an “unknown” until itmaterializes; -Themethodologyisstrictlylimitedtothelegal,quan- tumand enforcement analysis of amatter under liti- gation. It cannot encompass the assessment of the parties’ subjectivedeal-makingor riskappetite, or re- spective bargaining leverage. It is our experience that clients—including sophisti- catedinvestmentfundsandlargecompanies—some- times operate under a protracted procedural and legal fog. Having focused their priorities and efforts on their business rather thanon thedisputes theyare currently facing, they will benefit significantly from anexternalassessment.Thisassessmentbringsafirst practical benefit in clarifying the procedural status and the projected next steps, and in understanding moreobjectively themain strengths andweaknesses oftheircases,inlightofallthecriteriaidentifiedabove andexpressed inwritten reports ina language to the client that is accurate and jargon-free. These clear and concise reports are facilitated by the interactions and discussions between the client’s lawyersandtheexternalassessor.ProfileInvestment will know quickly what additional questions need to be addressed (even if they have not been tackled until now or do not appear important in the docu- ments) andwhat points need further clarification or development. The lawyers –whodraft thepleadings andknowthe case very well - will provide clear answers to the ex- ternal assessor with the knowledge that the assessor is skilled and knowledgeable andwill not (and does notseekto)replacethelawyer.Theseanswersarethen examined, refined and integrated into Profile Invest- ment’smethodology and reports to the client. To that extent, the consulting deepdive case analysis canbeveryvaluable to theappointed lawyers. It pro- vides themwith a 360-degree review and unbiased inputs,therebysavingtimeandpossiblycastinglight onissuesneedingspecificattention.Italsobenefitsthe decision-makers by helping themgain access to, and understand better or differently, certain information or documents that were perhaps initially considered ofminorimportance,therebyfacilitatingandimprov- ing the ultimate decision-makingprocess. The use anddangers ofAI AI is impacting many industries and ser- vices, and this is of course also relevant to externallitigationassessments.Itsuseand benefits cannot be disregarded. However, wewill briefly try to explainwhy it does not replace the value and expertise of the legally-trainedindividualsbehindtheex- ternal litigation assessment, de- spite increasingly supporting the accuracy of objective assessments. As a preliminary contextual point: the law firms them- selvesareusingAI.Toquote a barrister’s chamber’s words,“[l]egalAIisdevelop- ing at a dizzying rate” and after the Law Society of England&Wales reported, in January2025, that 75% ofthelargerfirmswereusingit,thefigurehas“doubt- less increased in the last 6months” (1) . AI is certainly helpful in generating and reviewing a large number of contracts and other documents, in summarizing information, and in carrying out legal research, all very quickly and relatively cheaply. Case documents in a foreign language that would previ- ously have required the added cost and time of a translatorcannowbetranslatedinstantlyusinganAI tool. In someways, we can compare it to a calculator, a powerful tool that enhances our capabilities, but withmuchbroaderusesandramifications.Notusing itwouldbenegligentandfailingtoadapttoanewre- ality. In the course of external assessments, we have used AI ourselves to help us gather, translate, and summarize documents. AIincreasesthevalueoftheworkandinputprovided bytheindividualswhoresearchandexaminethecase andthendrafttheexternallitigationreports.However, AI has its dangers too, in at least twoways. First,AI canmake seriousmistakes and even experi- ence repeated hallucinations with a small number of documentsunderreview,despitepresentinganswers in a categorical self-confident language. Given the prevalent uses ofAI by lawyers and all other partici- pants inanygivendispute, the involvement of anex- ternal and objective litigation assessor – who will reviewthedisputeunder itsgridof objective criteria - should further increase the quality and reliability of the assessment. In particular, the legal team at Profile Investment is trainedatusingAIplatformsdedicatedtothelegallit- igationsphere, specifically toadequatelycheck, com- pare, and refine: (i) appropriate prompts; (ii) documentsandinformationselectedforAIfeedback; and (iii) results generated fromtheAI tool. Secondly and perhaps even more importantly, we have observed thatAI is very competent in provid- ingdescriptions and summaries of a very large vol- ume of documents, quickly, but significantly less so when it comes to predicting or assessing the overall value of a case, which is a key objective of the exter- nal litigation assessment. Otherwise stated, AI re- mains a powerful assistant but in no way does it become the ultimate assessor. Indeed, thevalueof anexternal litigationassessment goeswell beyondadescriptionor summaryof doc- uments. Crucially, the assessmentmust alsoaddress thedifferent levels of ‘subjectivities’when reviewing casedocuments. For example, a legalmemorandum or pleadingwrittenbyonepartywill tendnot to ex- hibit the same objectivity as that of a judicial or ar- bitral decision. The assessment must also take into account the subjectivities of the human decision- makers, especiallywhendecisions are at least partly based on their own discretionary powers as op- posed tohardand fast legal rules or precise formula, such as costs decisions. Theprincipleisthentoremainconservativeinthecor- respondingevaluation.Theassessor,strengthenedby cross-disciplinary internal expertise, long and back tested experience, and an appropriate professional network across jurisdictions, appears well placed for this task and forweighing and considering the argu- mentsanddocumentsunderreview,therebyhelping the client to put the matter into amore objective and complete perspective. All this said, the external assessment is not a crystal ball reading of the unknown future. A good assess- mentisonewhichidentifiesthetruecriticalpointsand provides a realisticoutlookof themost likelyupcom- ingdevelopmentsbasedonthefacts,jurisdictionalis- sues, legal merits, quantum acceptability criteria, enforcement foreseeable hurdles, duration and costs. Conclusion Ourexternallitigationassessmentsdeliversignificant added value to clients. They are equally beneficial to claimants and respondents for various purposes, in- cluding monitoring, communication, audit, and val- uation.Theseassessmentshelpidentifypotentiallegal outcomes alongside the client’s available options and associated risks, all basedonobjective analysis. Thislegalassessmentconstitutesanindispensablefirst step of our analysis. It is not, however, the only com- ponentoftheofferedservice.Wealsouseittoprepare thesecondkeyphaseofourservice,namelythevalu- ationofthedispute.Thiswillbethetopicofthesecond part of the article. 1)AreAIandlawyersagoodmix,4NewSquareChambers,14July2025, accessibleat :https://www.4newsquare.com/are-ai-and-lawyers-a-good-mix/ Part 1 (section B): Legal Aspects of the External LitigationAssessment