Wellington Partners and KfW set up fund for life science start ups

Wellington Partners of Munich, Germany, has signed a collaboration agreement with KfW Banking Group to set up a fund for financing young life science companies within the framework of the ERP (European Recovery Programme) Start-Up Fund.

As a Wellington Partners co-investor, the government-owned KfW will provide up to €3 million per company. Wellington will be responsible for selecting and supporting suitable companies.

Wellington General Partner Rainer Strohmenger is convinced the collaboration agreement offers enormous opportunities, “We’re currently seeing a second generation of biotech companies in Germany which are faster, more targeted and closer to the market in developing their products – and these are precisely the ones we want to finance together with KfW. This collaboration will significantly strengthen our portfolio companies.”

Department Director, Robert Schlösser of KfW said, “What we want to do with the ERP Start-Up Fund is to work together with strong partners to finance as many promising technology companies as possible. This structure enables us to be fast and close to the market in doing that.”

The ERP Start-Up Fund was launched in 2004 to support innovative technology companies that are less than six years old and satisfy the European Commission’s criteria for small companies. The fund can invest up to €3 million per company, with a maximum of €1.5 million being provided in an initial round of financing. The fund always invests together with a lead investor, who advises the companies.  

Wellington Partners was formed in 1991 to invest in early stage companies and currently has €415 million currently under management. The firm focuses on information technology, media convergence and life science.

To date, Wellington Partners has invested in over 85 companies, selling a third of them at a profit, in seven cases through an IPO. Investments include the biotech company Actelion and software vendor SAF AG.