Blake Pennington is principal at Munich Re Ventures (MRV), the corporate venturing subsidiary of Germany-headquartered reinsurance group Munich Re, where he leads investments in the cybersecurity and privacy and future of transportation investment areas.
Pennington’s journey in the startup and venture world began with a six-year stint at an early-stage startup, Profi t Velocity Solutions. Then, while at Georgetown University pursuing his MBA, Pennington was offered a fellowship at In-Q-Tel. This led to a full-time role during his second year of business school. Following a move to the Bay Area, Pennington spent two years at early-stage Fusion Fund before joining Munich Re Ventures in 2021.
The biggest challenge is deciding how much time to spend assessing investments. “When do you decide to stop digging deeper?” asks Pennington. “If you like them really early, you are probably going to like them down the road.” Objectivity in assessing opportunities is key, he says.
“His deep network, strong subject matter expertise and commitment to the sector over the course of his career, have all immensely supported MRV’s efforts to build credibility.”
His team spends a lot of time looking at proactive risk management and cybersecurity – “things that are pushing security solutions beyond the traditional enterprise perimeter, which is quickly evaporating, and moving those security solutions closer to the threat actors, even disrupting or misleading them.”
MRV’s head of marketing, Jill Richardson, says that in the years Pennington has been with the venture unit he has been instrumental in building its reputation as a credible cybersecurity investor. “His deep network, strong subject matter expertise and commitment to the sector over the course of his career, have all immensely supported MRV’s efforts to build credibility with cyber founders, a key goal for our team over this past year.”
Richardson says his years of experience at startups has helped him maintain an “operator disposition” that has led him to be a top-tier investor that zeroes in on the issues that need further investigation of a company.