Risk Partners Life Sciences Roundtable 2025, thank you very much!
As fund managers, you are familiar with the challenges. In the seed sector, it is completely natural that 7 out of 10 portfolio companies fail; with 2 you get your investment back "more or less" and the one positive outlier (moonshot) brings the return for the entire fund.
As risk and insurance experts for the VC sector, we understand this dynamic well: out of 10 VC companies, 7 suffer no insurance claims per year; with 2 VCs, we become aware of "issues" that end "more or less" mildly, and with one VC there is a very expensive claim, which we handle with our claims team and the insurer to protect the GPs from private liability.
The core mission of a venture capital fund company is to find "moonshot ideas" and promote them with risk capital in order to enable 50 or 100-fold success. In addition to consciously and actively taking large investment risks, it is important to assess the typical operational and liability risks of a fund company and, in some cases, to transfer them to insurance companies.
As part of our advice, we recommend discussing the following four risk areas in any case:
The answers to the risk discussion can be very individual. For example, one GP may know a reliable network of criminal lawyers and prefer to bear the costs of such a process himself, while the added value of criminal legal protection insurance outweighs the risk for other GPs.
Venture capital firms also often require their portfolio companies to take out D&O insurance for the start-ups before investing in them (read more about D&O insurance for growth companies). The reason for this is that a representative of the VC is likely to take a position on the (advisory) board of the start-up and this seconded person from the VC wants to be protected for this mandate. However, basic cover for these third-party mandates in the portfolio companies is also an important component of the VC company's own D&O insurance and part of the employer's (VC's) duty of care.
What are the capital requirements for a capital management company? Together with experts Johannes Kiefer (Director of Risk & Compliance at Landsiedel & Partner) and Henry Franz (Managing Director of Layline.tax), we were able to share our complementary expertise on capital requirements for registered
We let our work and our clients speak for us.
"As a licensed AIF capital management company focusing on venture capital, we attach great importance to achieving sustainable returns for our limited partners through sound investments and supporting our portfolio companies on their growth path as strategic partners through A11. Risk Partners impressed us with its in-depth understanding of VC, the advantageous and dynamic insurance terms of the Moonshot product, and its expertise in complex regulatory environments. We are therefore happy to recommend them."
"The high professional quality and customer orientation in the advice and cooperation with Mr. Eckstein and his team ensure that we always feel that we are in good hands with the special requirements as a globally active SDAX company, for example in complex questions of capital market liability. As a listed investment company, Risk Partners' structured and professional support is decisive for us when choosing our broker."
"As a venture capital company, we were very satisfied with the advice provided by Björn and his team. We were impressed by their in-depth understanding of the industry and their innovative strength, which is why we are happy to recommend Risk Partners."
"Risk Partners supports us very reliably with comprehensive expertise, both in the area of the special risks of a venture capital fund and with a sound understanding of the life sciences industry. We greatly appreciate the cooperation with Mr. Eckstein and his team and especially the professional and forward-looking advice, which is optimally tailored to our needs. We can highly recommend the choice of Risk Partners' specialists to other VC funds and life sciences companies."
"As a young company, we spoke to a number of insurance brokers about the insurance issue and in the end we were happy and grateful to have found real VC experts in Risk Partners. While it was difficult elsewhere, Risk Partners understood us straight away, competently explained our industry risks and was able to quickly implement our wishes on the insurance market on the basis of Risk Partners' own concepts. We can therefore only recommend the professionals at Risk Partners."
"We had an excellent experience working with Risk Partners and their team. Their deep expertise in the venture capital sector and exceptional innovation stood out, and we are happy to recommend Risk Partners without hesitation."
"Our collaboration with Risk Partners was consistently positive. We were particularly impressed by their in-depth industry knowledge in the venture capital and life sciences sectors and their innovative strength with their own solutions. We are therefore happy to recommend Risk Partners and feel very well looked after."
When insuring venture capital, there are several important factors that insurers must take into account when calculating premiums, including:
Florian was recently invited to the #VentureMate podcast with Artur Schneider and Luca Grunwald from the HHL Venture Capital Club and talked about our experiences in risk management.
Read our VC guide to find out what insurance you need as a fund manager for your personal risk management in order to avoid falling into liability traps and what else is relevant for the protection of fund assets and the VC fund company. You will also receive our anonymized evaluation from our benchmark database for more transparency and comparability with your peers on
We compare these parameters on the basis of fund volume, investment focus and year in which the D&O / E&O was first placed.
A Criminal legal protection insurance rounds off the liability cover of the D&O / E&O insurance and is particularly needed in the case of investigations by supervisory authorities due to the criminal nature of such investigations. As a general rule, partial cover under D&O insurance is not the sole panacea. As an exception, we see this insurance as less relevant if MPs have already built up significant private assets outside of the fund carry and have access to leading criminal defense lawyers.
What does special criminal legal protection insurance cover?
Legal costs cover: Special criminal legal protection insurance covers the costs of legal representation of your company or yourself in criminal or regulatory offense matters
Protection against unfounded accusations: GPs or investment managers are often involved in legal disputes that later turn out to be unfounded. This insurance protects you against financial losses in such cases, which, depending on the initial situation, a KVG may not cover.
Early conflict resolution: The insurance can also cover the costs of alternative dispute resolution procedures such as mediation or arbitration in order to resolve conflicts early and cost-effectively.
Customizable policies: Insurance can be tailored to the specific needs and risks of your venture capital company, so you only pay for the protection you need.
However, it is important to note that venture capital companies are seen as "financial institutions" in the legal protection insurance market. However, mainly thanks to the banks (Euribor, CumEx, CumCum etc.), providers are very cautious in this segment, so that a good risk story (including compliance setup) is important in order to receive any offers at all.
In recent years, protection in the context of cybercrime has rapidly gained in importance. While we have been advising every VC on this for years following spectacular cases in our customer base, the decision to take out cyber insurance combined with crime insurance unfortunately still has a lot to do with subjective experience.
In addition to risk transfer, however, operational risk management must also be taken very seriously in this context, as the PE / VC sector is one of the preferred sectors for hackers in Germany and abroad in terms of loss distribution, as relatively small organizations move large sums of money from A to B here. (e.g. the redirected capital call, CEO fraud / "fake president").
Crime insurance in combination with cyber insurance offers protection against financial loss from fraud, embezzlement, theft, social engineering, phishing, etc. as a result of a crime committed by external criminals, but also by your own employees and close confidants. Learn more about this real danger, the fraud scam and best practices for preventive measures to counter the risk in our webinar with the partners of Control Risks:
In the event of a #cyberattack, the company affected initially bears the main responsibility. However, managers can still be held liable if they do not take sufficient steps to ensure #cybersecurity.
Webinar agenda :
Our Managing Director Florian and Reiner Wetzel (Account Manager at Control Risks) discuss this in #29 Minutes.
Office liability insurance is a form of liability insurance that protects venture capital companies against financial risks that may result from third-party liability claims. In contrast to E&O insurance, however, it explicitly does not cover "genuine financial losses", but "non-genuine financial losses" (e.g. compensation for pain and suffering for the tradesman who fell in the office). Due to the lower risk, office liability insurance also costs only a fraction of E&O insurance and is recommended as cover due to the low premium.
Added value of office liability insurance:
Liability cover: Office liability insurance protects you against the financial consequences of claims for damages if you or your employees inadvertently cause damage to third parties, be it physical injury, property damage or financial loss.
Personal injury and property damage: Office liability insurance also protects against the financial consequences of personal injury and property damage. This means that damage to persons (e.g. bodily injury) or property (e.g. damaged property) is covered if it is caused by third parties during your professional activity.
Blog / News
What are the capital requirements for an asset management company? Together with experts Johannes Kiefer (Director of Risk & Compliance at Landsiedel & Partner) and Henry Franz (Managing Director of Layline.tax), we were able to compile our complementary expertise on capital requirements, ranging from registered asset management companies to fully licensed ones. In this issue of VC Magazine, we share how E&O insurance, among other things, can provide added value. In addition to our article available below, please also see the
From Road Builder to IPO Candidate: How Terranor Group AB Conquered Nasdaq First North. It was a day that marked a new chapter not only for Terranor Group AB but for the entire Nordic infrastructure sector: On June 19, 2025, the Swedish company celebrated its successful initial public offering on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market in Stockholm. Risk Partners as IPO Advisor Because while Terranor Group’s shares
MiCAR Compliance? We Cover the Risk! The MiCAR Regulation (EU 2023/1114) exposes crypto-asset service providers and whitepaper authors to significant liability risks. Incomplete, inaccurate, or misleading information in white papers can have significant consequences for Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASP) and authors—ranging from regulatory sanctions to civil claims. Our solution: Risk Partners Tech POSI MiCAR Whitepaper Protect 2025 The creation and publication of white papers under MiCAR involves complex liability pitfalls: In addition to
