Risk Partners Life Sciences Roundtable 2025, thank you very much! 

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Your Risk Partners team

"We are the first choice as an insurance broker for game changers that disrupt their markets, stand for breakthroughs in science and break new ground."

Florian Eckstein - Managing Partner

Get to know us

Your experienced team of experts for "gamechanging moments"

Risk Partners was founded by Florian and Björn with two goals in mind. Firstly, to provide customized protection for #gamechangers with complex risk profiles . And secondly, to be the point of contact for motivated team players with leading specialist expertise. Because we are not satisfied with the second-best solution for our clients. As a German and English-speaking brokerage house, we pursue a clear strategy: we consistently integrate international insurance markets in order to "challenge" innovations and premiums for the best possible result in the interests of our clients.

Senior Risk Advisor Life Sciences

Jutta Zaglauer

Jutta has been in the insurance industry for 25 years and is a qualified insurance broker. Having worked for large insurance companies, she has acquired expertise in all lines and areas of insurance.
Most recently, Jutta worked for an insurance broker specializing in life sciences, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals for 10 years, where she was primarily responsible for insuring clinical trials and test person cover. She also looked after start-ups and other corporate clients from other innovative business areas.

Managing partner and founder

Florian Eckstein

Florian has many years of experience as a specialist insurance broker for (international) IPOs, capital market liability and complex D&O insurance issues. In addition to up-and-coming start-ups, he has also advised leading biotech and technology companies.
In addition to his Master's degree, Florian is also a certified risk manager with a degree from the University of Würzburg.

Head of Legal & Claims - External Counsel

Miriam Born

Miriam studied law at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen and was admitted to the bar in 2001. She gained more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry. Her work included cross-sector claims and contract processing for medium-sized insurance brokers. She has also developed international insurance concepts in the area of liability insurance for corporate clients. She has extensive expertise in product liability, D&O and liability issues in other areas. Miriam lives in Stuttgart with her husband and two children.

Senior Risk Advisor Financial Lines

Franziska Fink (born Merz)

Franziska has been working in the insurance industry for over 10 years. After completing her training, she graduated as an insurance specialist and then went on to study part-time at the TH Cologne in the field of insurance management.

During her time as a broker, Franziska specialized in the areas of D&O, financial loss liability, cyber and criminal law insurance and most recently worked for a specialist insurance broker in the area of financial lines for international companies.

Together with her office dog Emma (Manager of Happiness), Franziska brings a lot of positive energy to our team.

Managing partner and founder

Björn Stressenreuter

Björn has been working in the insurance industry for over 20 years. He holds a Master's degree in International Management (CEMS MIM - Copenhagen Business School) as well as a Master's degree in Insurance Business Administration/Risk Management from the University of Cologne and is also a qualified insurance salesman.

Björn has many years of experience as a specialist insurance broker for (international) IPOs, capital market liability and complex D&O insurance issues. In addition to up-and-coming start-ups and leading biotech and technology companies, Björn specializes in providing comprehensive advice to venture capital and private equity KVGs as well as asset managers/liability umbrellas in accordance with WpIG/KWG.

Senior Accounting Specialist

Sabine Eckstein

Sabine completed her training as a bank clerk at Deutsche Bank and worked there for several years in customer service. After taking a break to bring up her two sons, Sabine was responsible for the financial side of the family-owned specialist brokerage firm for life sciences companies and venture capital funds for a period of 20 years, focusing on premium collection and brokerage accounting with the various insurance companies.

Julia Gagel

Risk Advisor Financial Lines

Julia Gagel

Julia started her career in 2010 at a securities trading bank in Frankfurt am Main, where she got to know the capital market first-hand and, among other things, followed the processes surrounding the IPO of the securities trading bank. In 2013, she switched to the insurance industry and specialized in advising institutional clients. Her focus is on covering liability risks for private equity and venture capital companies, asset managers/liability umbrellas and capital management companies.

At Risk Partners, Julia combines her experience from both worlds and supports her clients as a competent partner for individual, tailor-made insurance solutions.

Lead Marketing Operations Manager

Anna Heun

Anna completed her Master's degree in Marketing and Branding at the University of Innsbruck. She has diverse B2B experience in the areas of tax, advisory, M&A and marketing. At Risk Partners, she is responsible for marketing strategy, corporate communications and campaign management. 

She also coordinates events and manages our social media presence, especially on LinkedIn. Her knowledge and passion for marketing are a valuable asset to our Risk Partners team.

Managing partner and founder of
Risk Partners Technology GmbH

Dominik Knödel

Dominik founded Risk Partners Technology together with Florian and Björn. He has over 11 years of professional experience as an insurance broker and risk manager for international insurance programs for large companies and was responsible for this area at a major broker for many years before he committed himself to our Risk Partners approach.

Dominik is our technology specialist for tech E&O, cyber and D&O insurance.

"Best in class is not a promise, but our right to exist as a specialist broker!"

Miriam Born, Head of Legal - External Counsel Risk Partners GmbH

You have questions -
we solve them!

1

Your question to us

We are highly specialized, so we can tell you immediately whether this is our area of expertise (e.g. fire insurance for a sawmill is not), a D&O program for a NASDAQ listing is.

Book desired date
2

Advice & proposed solution

As an independent insurance broker, we work with all insurers relevant to our specializations in the continental European and UK markets - one of our USPs. As part of our consultation, we discuss with you the optimum marketing strategy for your risk for our tender.

Franziska Fink

Senior Risk Advisor Financial Lines

3

Market comparison & recommendation

Depending on the task at hand, e.g. D&O insurance via one insurer or a structured program with 10 insurers, we will present you with the possibilities of the market based on our customer-friendly product developments (e.g. Risk Partners D&O Prime Protect 2024) without obligation.

Does our proposal solve your issue? You decide whether we should implement our proposal for you.

4

Promise of care

Your risk changes (e.g. new financing round) or the insurance market changes, we discuss with you possible adjustment options or urgent need for change. Claims? You call us first and we will handle the claim for you on an equal footing with the insurers. Risk Partners, your insurance experts!

Insurance Broking for Gamechangers

We are looking for team players!

We are looking for you to strengthen our Risk Management, Financial Lines and Life Sciences divisions. Please send us an unsolicited application to career@riskpartners.de

Come on board

What sets us apart

Our core values

Collegial, supportive and appreciative - we foster good teamwork. We grow together in the face of daily challenges and continue to develop sustainably. Our individual strengths and entrepreneurial thinking make us specialized partners for our customers. In addition to a high level of satisfaction, leading insurance cover is part of our DNA.

Teamplayer @ Heart

We are a team of charismatic personalities without an elbow mentality. We see supporting each other and achieving our goals together as one of our strengths, not least because it's a lot more fun.

In the exchange with the Risk Partners, you will meet open-minded colleagues who also see working with you as "team play" in order to develop the best solutions for you.

Innovation driver

As experts, we develop innovative solutions for the diverse challenges of our clients by pursuing "out of the box" approaches and looking beyond European borders.

We will give you access to new solutions that will significantly improve your cover (e.g. D&O Flip Coverage). You will also always find an open ear for innovative ideas from us.

Specialized

According to "Your Risk. Our DNA", our in-depth understanding of our clients' complex risks sets us apart from our competitors. As a result, we are always up to date and recognize changing risks at an early stage.

We differentiate ourselves from our competitors through our in-depth understanding of our clients' complex risks. If issues lie outside our specialization, we share this with you and offer access to the right expert through our network.

Entrepreneurial

We consider it our duty to treat both our team members' and our customers' resources responsibly. We strive to act seriously in the long term.

track and field

Our special topics are subject to a high fluctuation of personnel and companies. Nevertheless, we strive for corporate sustainability in order to offer you reliability.

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Dynamic

We are characterized by agility in internal innovation projects and a market-leading level of service to our clients. Although our industry is sometimes seen as not particularly agile, we prove the opposite through our work.

Our strengths lie in agility and the rapid resolution of challenges in order to do justice to you as a client in all matters, not just in the event of a claim.

Humorous

Stress and time pressure are often present in capital market transactions. The weekend work that may be necessary in such cases is easier to "bear" with humor and a positive spirit, and we approach challenges accordingly.

We are your risk partners and strive to interact positively with you to optimize the exchange of information and manage your risks effectively.

Our references

We let our work and our clients speak for us.

"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."

Mark FriedrichCFO
Mutares Management SE
"As a fast-growing European InsurTech, we are delighted to have specialists at our side in Risk Partners, whose team translates our needs into the right insurance solutions in the field of tension of a partially regulated financial services provider with the DNA of a tech champion. You can see their deep understanding of digital business models in their expert advice and implementation. We are very happy and can also highly recommend Risk Partners to other FinTech and InsurTechs."
Daniel SteinhoffChief Legal & Compliance Officer
Clark Holding SE

"In a joint project for the public placement of a EUR 500 million bond, Florian impressed us with his well thought-out structuring and processing of capital market liability in the concepts for D&O and prospectus liability insurance. With his competent advice, all stakeholders, from the management board to the supervisory board and the accompanying banks, felt well taken care of."

Dr. Christoph KüsterCounsel Corporate / M&A

"After last year's risk analysis, it was clear to us that we would work with Risk Partners in the future. With Jutta Zaglauer, Florian Eckstein and the team, we have profound contacts who not only understand their profession, but also live it. Expertise, service around the clock with global competence. With Risk Partners, we will expand and restructure our insurance program in line with global requirements."

Olaf BeyerHead of Procurement & Purchasing
Global software & IT company

"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."

Raphael MukomilovPartner
Picus Capital

"As an in-house expert for the insurance sector, Florian not only successfully extended all insurance programs in a challenging market environment, but also continued to drive forward the expansion of complex financial lines cover for D&O, cyber/tech E&O."

Florian LorenzFormer Team Lead
Risk Management DAX40 Group

"Florian was extremely helpful in building up a risk management set-up and strategy for our global regulatory requirements. Having Florian's competence and support to coordinate i.a. the claims management in a major cyber incident helped us to mitigate the financial loss on a minor level."

CFOFinTech in Brazil

"Being the defendant in a US class action is a very serious matter for any manager. In our case, Mr. Eckstein was able to professionally coordinate the legal defense with the D&O insurer."

General CounselDAX40 company

"It was a pleasure working with Florian on our cross-border De-SPAC transaction. Especially having two jurisdictions with the SPAC being Dutch registered and the target being a German headquarted company brought up several liability items that Florian was able to tackle down in a tailor-made D&O insurance solution. This was key for both managements to proceed on the transaction and the sucessfull closing of the project."

Associate DirectorSPAC Investment Firm

"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."

Alexander LübckeGeneral Partner
InVenture Capital

"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."

Josef MoosholzerPartner Finance
TVM Capital GmbH

Blog / News

Research breakdown at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute: A cooling failure destroys cell cultures from decades of research

Research mishap at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute: A cooling failure destroys cell cultures from decades of research - can you insure against it? An incident that threatens your very existence, but which we would like to shed some light on from the perspective of an insurance broker specializing in life sciences. What happened? A cooling system at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden's most important medical research center, failed for five days. Biological material that had been collected over 30 years and was, according to the institute, unique in the world was

Read more "
June 7, 2024

OLG Schleswig – Statute of Limitations for Liability Claims in the Case of Direct Claims in D&O Insurance

OLG Schleswig: Limitation of liability claims for direct claims in D&O insurance. There is a new, exciting ruling from the world of D&O insurance. We recently reported on the decision of the Higher Regional Court of Cologne in the context of direct claims. Now the Higher Regional Court of Schleswig has also made a groundbreaking decision. What was it about? The focus was on the question of the statute of limitations. However, it must be borne in mind that the question of limitation in D&O claims is not trivial.

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April 24, 2024

Finance Day 2024

Growth capital for biotechnology and life sciences - Finance Day 2024 A few days ago, Jutta and Florian from our team attended Finance Day 2024 at the analytica trade fair in Munich. The event once again offered exciting expert panels on current financing and capital market issues for life sciences companies. As the panels focused on three of our key consulting areas, namely life sciences, venture capital and IPOs, a visit was of course a must for us as a specialist insurance broker. Our team has

Read more "
April 19, 2024
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