Although Nico Rosberg ended his career as a racing driver years ago, he has remained close to Formula 1. As an entrepreneur and investor, he leverages the global racing circuit and its growing allure to pave the way for new business ideas. In addition to his personal commitment to „investing passionately in sustainability“, as he describes it in an interview with Börsen-Zeitung, the Formula 1 world champion has set an ambitious new goal: to attract the interest of German family businesses in venture capital.

"This asset class is surprisingly underrepresented among German family offices, and I want to change that“, says Rosberg, who offers two compelling arguments: participation in value creation and access to innovation.

Rosberg is currently fundraising for a venture capital umbrella fund specifically targeting German family businesses, aiming for a volume of 75 million euros by the end of the year. „We’ve already raised significantly over 60 million euros“, explains the 39-year-old, who is currently traveling through Germany and Europe to meet with investors and funds. „About half of the capital has already been committed to funds.“

The focus is primarily on the US, followed by Europe. While he doesn't name specific families, he assures that „they are names you would recognise.“ The spectrum of participating family offices is broad, including both very old money and funds from younger entrepreneurs who have become successful in recent years. Overall, „the interest is very high.“ Rosberg offers something that is difficult for individual companies and family offices: access to leading venture capital funds, including Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures. „The whole world wants to invest in these funds – we facilitate the connection," he says.

From Rosberg's perspective, the Formula 1 platform serves as an ideal setting for „emotional experiences and curated relationships.“ The former racer connects investors with fund representatives as well as potentially interesting founders. „Investors are primarily investing in founders“, Rosberg states. It’s about individuals who have a proven track record, making venture capitalists confident that they can turn an idea into a company and a viable business. A prominent example is siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who left OpenAI in 2021 to found their own AI startup, Anthropic. The company quickly attracted high-profile investors, primarily Google and Salesforce Ventures, along with several financial backers, including Spark Capital, achieving a valuation of over 4 billion dollars almost immediately. Such success stories fuel the AI hype, but Rosberg emphasizes that the umbrella fund will diversify its investments. „Diversification is crucial. This allows an umbrella fund to provide security in a high-risk asset class.“

The failure rate in venture capital is high. A common rule of thumb is that only one in ten companies delivers the expected return. Expectations are correspondingly high. Rosberg regards the Yale University fund as the „pioneer“ and „gold standard“ of venture capital, with an average internal rate of return (IRR) of 25%, which he considers a model for his umbrella fund. „The funds we invest in average similar returns over ten years.“

Rosberg’s umbrella fund, like his personal investments, focuses on early-stage companies, because "that's where the majority of value creation happens.“ This is particularly true for value creation in AI, which is currently emerging from both young companies and big tech firms like Google, Microsoft, and Meta. However, an early-stage investor today requires more patience than in the past. „Investment cycles have extended“, notes Rosberg. In the past, there were often lucrative exit opportunities after seven years. „Today, it’s at least ten years.“ Consequently, a larger portion of value creation lies „in the private market“. Nevertheless, the manager sees this as no problem. „You can remain invested longer – what matters is that the company continues to grow steadily.“

For now, he does not plan to launch his own fund, saying "that's our goal, but we're not there yet.“ Under the umbrella vehicle, they have „around 2,000 young companies on their radar.“ Rosberg's „added value“ for German family businesses investing in his umbrella fund lies in the „direct connection to these start-ups.“ He believes they provide access to innovations that would be significantly more expensive to achieve through „in-house research and development.“ For start-ups, this connection often leads to „initial customer relationships.“

Rosberg himself is also actively investing in early-stage ventures, with a primary emphasis on new mobility. He has supported the flying taxi company Lilium up to its IPO, and is involved with Volocopter as well. The startup recently faced a funding crisis. Rosberg remains involved, but did not participate in the latest round of financing, which is intended to carry the company through to commercialisation.