Wellington Partners is a European venture capital firm founded in 1998 that invests in early- and growth-stage life science companies, with offices in Munich and Zurich. It backs therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics, digital health and industrial biotechnology, writing tickets of roughly EUR 2 million to EUR 20 million from early stage through expansion, plus selected PIPE investments. Its life science funds run from WP I (1998) through WPLS V, which closed at EUR 210 million; the firm reports 58 life science investments and 27 exits, IPOs and trade sales. Wellington Partners historically also ran a technology practice that deployed about EUR 640 million into more than 100 European companies including Spotify, FreeNow and Xing, but it states that it no longer makes new technology investments.
EUR 210M (WPLS V, latest fund, closed 2017; no total AUM published) AUM69/100 Power Score™1998 FoundedMunich, Germany
Life SciencesTherapeuticsMedical DevicesDigital HealthBiotech
Wellington Partners founded; first fund WP I closed at EUR 10 million allocated to life science, funding 9 life science investments.
2000
WP II closed with EUR 35 million for life science, funding 4 life science investments.
2007
Wellington Partners Life Science Fund III (WPLS III) closed at EUR 78 million.
2012
WPLS IV closed at EUR 85 million.
2017
WPLS V closed at EUR 210 million, the firm's largest fund; investors include the European Investment Fund and the European Investment Bank alongside family offices, trusts and insurance companies.
2023
Johannes Fischer and Varun Gupta promoted to Partner.
2025
Portfolio company ImCheck Therapeutics acquired by Ipsen; Regina Hodits moved from Managing Partner to Venture Advisor.