Organised by the Florence School of Banking and Finance and Oliver Wyman, this event is designed for pension funds, insurers, relevant national authorities, sovereign funds, development banks, and other long-term investors who wish to better understand why increasing institutional allocations to venture capital matters and what can realistically be done to achieve it.

Starting from Europe’s renewed ambition to finance its innovative firms through the growth phase, the session explores why institutional allocations to VC remain modest, what changes when they increase, and how this can be a game-changer for Europe’s innovative companies.

The first discussion examines the potential benefits of greater exposure, as well as the practical and regulatory reasons that make it difficult. A second panel will turn to approaches and tools to overcome these barriers, focusing on the role that enhanced knowledge of the VC industry—from understanding manager selection and performance metrics to recognising the underlying characteristics of the asset class—can play for boards and investment teams of institutional investors. We will also discuss complementary tools—such as funds-of-funds and public investment vehicles—that can help private institutions engage with this asset class.

Key questions we will explore:

• What would a stronger institutional presence in venture capital mean for how Europe finances start-ups and scale-ups, and for its longer-term growth prospects?
• How can different institutional investors think of the role of venture capital in their portfolios, given their liabilities, risk/return expectations, and regulatory constraints?
• What do VC fund structures, fee models, and return distribution imply for diversification, performance assessment, and liquidity management?
• Which knowledge gaps, asymmetries, governance issues, and operational constraints most often hold back investment in VC, and what does it take in practice for boards and investment teams to feel confident in underwriting the asset class?
• How can pooling mechanisms, such as public and private funds-of-funds, help unlock institutional capital?

Speakers:

• Robyn Klingler-Vidra (King’s College London)
• Juanita Gonzalez-Uribe (LSE)

Panellists:

• Matthieu Baret (Eurazeo)
• Johan Barnard (APG NL)
• Ian Connatty (BBB Investment Services Limited | British Growth Partnership)
• Michel Friob (CSSF)
• Tessa Page (Mercer)
• Thomas Schneider (Isomer Capital)
• Philippe Tibi (Financement Scale-Up, Ministère de l'Economie)

Programme

12:30 – 12:40 Welcome

12:40 – 13:30 Potential and challenges of institutional investors’ increasing exposure to VC

13:30 – 14:20 Breaking the barriers: getting to know the asset class and complementary actions to unlock institutional capital

14:20 – 14:30 Closing words