Germany’s largest pension scheme, Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK), BlackRock, Allianz, Munich Re, and AXA Deutschland are among those partnering under the so-called WIN-Initiative committing to invest €12bn in start-ups.
The partners will conduct investments in start-up and scale-up companies with an attractive business model but will also financially support the overall ecosystem in Germany, by, for example, setting up start-up factories, and through a range of venture capital vehicles for investments, according to a joint declaration signed by the partners in the WIN-Initiative.
Other members of the WIN-Initiative include the German Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Börse, Generali Deutschland, W&W Asset Management, and the state-owned investment and development bank KfW.
KfW’s chief executive officer, Stefan Wintels, said: “We need around €30bn annually in Germany to finance innovation. It is therefore important, in addition to public capital, that we attract private investors to finance young companies. This is where the WIN-Initiative comes in.”
The members of the WIN alliance have signed a joint declaration for venture capital investments at the Startup Germany Summit held yesterday in Berlin.
The group released a package of 10 measures intended to strengthen the growth capital ecosystem in Germany.
One of the measures points to start-up investments of private investors through vehicles such as European Long-Term Investment Funds (ELTIFs), strengthening fund-of-funds structures for investments, and the secondary market for venture capital funds to attract limited partners (LPs), the group said in the document.
The law to reform the second pillar pension system will make it easier for Pensionskassen to invest in riskier asset classes such as venture capital, it added.
The government has also conducted a study on public funding for venture capital investments, concluding that KENFO and the foundation generational capital (Generationenkapital) that will manage first pillar pension assets for equity investments, will have the option to allocate assets to venture capital, according to the declaration.
Moreover, the government intends to reinforce the cooperation between universities, investors and companies, starting innovative financing solutions for “first-of-a-kind” financing of cleantech start-ups to scale-up industrial production, according to the partners.
It also plans to improve the framework conditions for IPOs and start-up exits, building on the positive elements of the European Union Listing Act, it added.
Germany wants to channel assets in Spezialfonds – opened only to qualified investors, including pension funds – in venture capital through the second Future Financing Act (ZuFinG II).
It plans to set up a second Growth Fund – Wachstumsfonds II – by 2026, to open another vehicle for Pensionsfonds and Pensionskassen that want to invest in start-ups.
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