The German insurer is shuttering the 40-person unit despite a strong track record of unicorn investments.
Munich Re Ventures, a pioneering corporate venture capital unit with a track record of nearly 100 investments over its 10-year history, is being shut down by its parent company, insurer Munich Re, in an attempt to bring innovation closer to the core of the business.
Munich Re Ventures, set up and led by Jacqueline LeSage (pictured above), had assets of some $1.2bn across several funds and a team of 40+ people. Its portfolio of investments included a number of unicorns, including reinsurer Hippo, machine health detection company Augury and Next Insurance, which was acquired by Munich Re for $2.6bn earlier this year.
However, the venture capital investment activities will now be brought under MEAG, the company’s asset management arm, with a small team overseen by MEAG remaining to oversee the existing portfolio.
“Munich Re is continuing its strategy from the past few years to concentrate innovation in the core businesses, relying on the capabilities of the businesses alone to source innovation instead of also sourcing innovation via investing in startups,” the company said in a statement. “Munich Re will no longer source innovation via investments in startups from Munich Re Ventures.”
See how your corporate venture unit compares with global norms by taking part in our annual benchmarking survey.
- All answers are anonymised.
- All respondents receive a free, advance copy of the report results.
It is not clear how many of the CVC unit’s team of more than 40 people would remain with the company.
“Beyond Q2 2026, a small team overseen by MEAG will remain in San Francisco to manage assets and support founders for the foreseeable future,” the company said.
Munich Re said it would continue to make investments in VC funds, and pursue some co-investments throug the MEAG asset management arm.
Munich Re Ventures had a highly sophisticated investment operation and was often seen as a model for other teams, with founder and managing partner LeSage serving as chairman of the GCV Leadership Society two years ago.
Nevertheless it has become one of the many corporate investment units shuttered over the past few years as sentiment towards venture-backed startups has cooled. Due to changing company strategies and priorities, around 40% of corporate venture units fail to survive beyond the first three years, according to GCV’s data. Investment arms are often closed when the parent company faces financial difficulties. Troubled mining company Anglo American, for example, closed its venture arm at the end of 2024 amid wide scale restructuring, while struggling tech company Intel planned to spin out its Intel Capital investment arm before reversing the decision.
Financial difficulties, however, do not appear to be the motivating factor in winding down the Munich Re Ventures unit, with the parent company posting a record-breaking profit of €2.1bn in the second quarter of this year, putting it well on track to make its targeted profit of €6bn for 2025. Rather, the shift is likely to be linked to a change in leadership, with Christoph Jurecka, currently the company’s chief financial officer appointed to succeed Joachim Wenning as chair of the board at the start of next year.
Maija Palmer
Maija Palmer is editor of Global Venturing and puts together the weekly email newsletter (sign up here for free).
