Related services and key industries
Biography
Nicholas Berry is corporate lawyer based in London. His practice includes cross-border and domestic M&A for financial institutions and private equity investors and fundraising and product launches for start-ups, with a particular focus on the insurance sector.
His experience also includes advising on structured insurance and reinsurance arrangements including ILS and parametric products and on novel product launches including in relation to digital assets.
Nicholas devised and co-ordinates our Insurathon innovation events, where InsurTech start-ups pitch for a prize fund of up to £50,000. These events have been held annually since in 2017 and to date the firm has provided more than £200,000 of support to UK InsurTech companies.
Professional experience
Collapse all- Solicitor, qualified in England & Wales 2008
Advising:
- Aquiline on its acquisition of a controlling stake in Ripe Insurance, a UK based MGA with a focus on specialist and small business insurance
- Aquiline and Lloyd's of London insurer ERS - on a $350m fundraise to enable ERS to expand its strategy to underwrite specialty (re)insurance business
- Aquiline - on its investment in and subsequent exit from wholesale broker Beach & Associates
- Brickell Insurance Holdings, an affiliate of investor 777 Partners LLC - in relation to its $482m bid for Randall Quilter ("R&Q") the non life insurance, reinsurance legacy and run off acquisition specialist
- A global insurer - on the acquisition of a telematics and connected car business with international operations
- Stable Price - on its launch in Bermuda and establishment of a collateralized insurer class of company and related risk protection arrangements to provide protection to Stable's clients
- MyLotto24 - on the creation and renewal of its innovative ILS Hoplon coverage (Hoplon I, II & III)
- Tech-enabled commercial motor insurer Zego - in its $150m Series C valuing the business at $1.1bn, making Zego the UK's first InsurTech "Unicorn"
- Nexus Mutual, a peer-to-peer risk coverage defi application - on the ethereum blockchain, which is one the first businesses to capitalize a risk pool through cryptocurrency and now has capital assets reported to be in excess of $200m, on its platform launch and token sale (ICO)
- Arch - on the creation of a bespoke insurance product and a new consortium dedicated to underwriting digital asset risks with limits of up to $150m, BlueVault is the first consortium of its kind to cover digital assets held in secure vaults
Next Generation Partner, corporate and regulatory insurance, The Legal 500, 2022
Up and Coming Individual, Chambers and Partners, 2022
"…is pragmatic and thinks about the big picture without getting lost in the details…He is commercial, always available and when you work with him you get a lot of things done, it is very efficient."
Leading Individual, FinTech, The Legal 500, 2022
- Host, Insurathon, London, November 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
- Crypto Insurance Challenge: How Can I Insure What I Don't Understand?, PLUS D&O Symposium, New York, February 6, 2019.
- Co-host, Navigating the InsurTech Revolution, Bermuda, September 20, 2018.
- Artificial Intelligence, The Liability Risks at the Liability Underwriters Group Conference, September 12, 2018.
- The Insurance of Crypto Assets and Businesses, Lloyd's Market Talk to Lloyd's Syndicates, August 16, 2018.
- Co-host, Smart Shipping and InsurTech - Reshaping Marine Insurance event co-hosted by Norton Rose Fulbright, MS Amlin and InsTech London, June 13, 2018.
- The Future of smart contracts in insurance, the FCA's InsurTech conference, March 28-29, 2017.