“AI Can Have a Disturbing Effect”- Investor Nicole Junkermann on the Blessing and the Curse of Artificial Intelligence

Article written by Peter Brors and published by Handelsblatt

Nicole Junkermann, the highly accomplished venture capitalist, discusses the role of AI in the health sector and where her investments are fuelling progress towards the solutions for major healthcare concerns.

London. Nicole Junkermann was born in Dusseldorf, grew up in Spain, has lived in France and Italy, and travels globally. She commands six languages, bears the name of an Italian countess and is raising her daughter in South Kensington, London. 

Junkermann launched Winamax, an online gaming platform, just four years after she graduated from the International University of Monaco, making her first major financial gain. She obtained her first professional experience in a consolidated group as a management assistant at Neuf Cegetel, the French telecommunications provider.

Together with the former Adidas boss, Robert Louis-Dreyfus, the football-loving Real Madrid fan subsequently directed TV licence marketer Infront, which held the TV rights to the World Cup Championship in Germany. Since the purchase of Infront for more than EUR 500 million by rival Bridgepoint in 2011, Junkermann has been investing in her own fund, NJF Capital. 

As a longstanding venture capitalist, Junkermann runs her platform for venture capital, direct investments and real estate. NJF Capital has a range of specialised start-ups in the healthcare sector in its portfolio. Individual investments range between six-figure and double-digit million amounts depending on the development potential of the individual business idea. 

Interviewer: Ms Junkermann, the UK Department of Health, under the auspices of Matt Hancock, has just appointed you to the Scientific Advisory Board. Why?

Nicole Junkermann: The first time I met the Minister was in spring this year when he was still responsible for the technology department. Around two months later, I received a letter from him stating that he wanted to establish a direct link to young companies and the scientific sector. The Minister’s aim is to find out more about how to accelerate the transportation of medical innovations into the British healthcare system and thus into people's everyday lives.

Interviewer: How exactly do you want to help him?

Nicole Junkermann: First, I am very pleased and honoured by the Minister’s interest. The NJF Capital team and I have made a number of investments in healthcare sector companies over the past few years, mostly with regards to pension provision products and preventive care therapies. We gain a great deal of experience and insight from our close exchange with founders and scientists, such as how to accelerate the progression of medical advancements from the lab to the patient as much as possible.

Interviewer: Please be a bit more specific.

Nicole Junkermann: Exciting points of reference are to be found, for example, wherever artificial intelligence lends itself to being prospectively used in medicine. If AI links patient data, thus allowing conclusions for individualised oncological therapies to be drawn, then that is in everyone’s interests, as it allows patients to be treated more quickly and precisely. The pharmaceutical companies profit when their products have a more targeted effect and the healthcare system also benefits when the already expensive treatments are more effective. In a nutshell, the ultimate result is that people are helped, and money is saved.

Interviewer: Sounds a bit too idealistic.

Nicole Junkermann: Do you think so? To my mind, idealism and economic considerations are not necessarily mutually exclusive. The special advantage of using AI in the medical industry is that new technology can have a very accelerating effect when forming focus groups in clinical test phases for new drugs, for example. This approach saves an enormous amount of time during the initial development stage of medicines and therapies, thus making it very efficient. What’s more, the same of course applies to very rare, serious diseases that are unfortunately sometimes neglected in current research, due to being considered too expensive and too complex. I’d like to contribute towards solving this dilemma, but no success will be possible until humanitarian and business prospects for success are aligned.

Interviewer: Do you view the use of AI as being unreservedly positive?

Nicole Junkermann: Definitely not. AI may also have a disturbing effect and be potentially harmful to our society if we don’t manage to develop a broad awareness of what we can and should expect from AI. As a society, we also need to clarify the ethical boundaries. AI should not be allowed to become a people-pusher. Conversely, people need to learn how to develop AI and use it wisely. To this end, we need a reliable system of values that will eventually form a working attitude towards working with AI. At the moment, far too few competent people are dealing with solving such a key problem.

Interviewer: An example, please...

Nicole Junkermann: Data protection. Patient data must be unconditionally protected; the dignity and integrity of individuals may not be violated. The fact that government agencies sell millions of patients’ data to pharmaceutical companies, as in the US, must on no account become the international standard. This data is important medical progression, but may only be passed on when used strictly for a specific purpose. However, that is not what is happening in the USA at the moment. We need very clearly defined rules and limits here.

Interviewer: If the possibility of using AI to treat previously incurable diseases also exists, won’t such concerns inevitably take a back seat?

Nicole Junkermann: We have to make the most of any innovative possibilities but should never abandon our conscience in the process. People do not want technology to eat into their lives. With reference to the medical industry, this means that AI should never be allowed to and will never replace the doctor; instead, it should only have an ancillary function. This has a strong ethical dimension. In the here and now, our task is to identify the values that are important to us and defend those values with conviction.

Interviewer: The awareness of this subject is seemingly not very widespread yet, and is clearly evident in the negligent way social media handles information and data.

Nicole Junkermann: That’s the way it is. Social media is often anything but social: me, myself and I – everything revolves around oneself. I would say that the majority of social media users are uninterested in either politics or society. Our main remit is thus continuous clarification – and that’s a minimum requirement of me as a mother as well. The major tech companies, such as Google and Alibaba, will never regulate or even limit themselves. We should all be aware of this.

Interviewer: How many companies do you hold interests in at the moment?

Nicole Junkermann: NJF Capital currently holds 24 minority interests in 12 countries. All these companies take an international and scalable approach.

Interviewer: Do you always claim a seat on the board as well?

Nicole Junkermann: That's not imperative. Regardless of a seat on the board, NJF Capital’s primary function is to help raise capital and recruit. We are of course happy to be a strategic sparring partner for the respective management, especially in the growth phase. What’s more, the typical German virtues of order and structure are also sometimes a requisite.

Interviewer: And do you do that for all 24 companies?

Nicole Junkermann: Our NJF Capital team members are specialised according to industry sectors. Personally, I deal primarily with the healthcare sector.

Interviewer: Your main investment in Germany is in Optiopay. Why?

Nicole Junkermann: Because in addition to the business idea, I am always particularly interested in the founder’s personality as well, in this case, Marcus Börner, an entrepreneur with attitude and creativity.

Interviewer: Optiopay belongs in the fintech category?

Nicole Junkermann: Exactly. If, for example, an insurance company pays out an amount to a customer in a damage event, Optiopay allows the latter to receive the money in the form of a voucher instead of a bank transfer as well. EUR 100 could then have a possible voucher value of EUR 120. Optiopay passes the voucher on itself and receives a commission from the online shop issuing the voucher. Optiopay shares the commission with the insurance company. The online shop benefits by having gained a new customer.

Interviewer: But this investment, as well as the Berlin-based start-up Rebuy, an online marketplace for used electronic products, is now just all about making money, isn’t it?

Nicole Junkermann: That’s not reprehensible per se. As Optiopay’s and Rebuy’s growth figures show, both business models obviously strike a chord with customers, and that pleases me as an investor as well.

Interviewer: Your former holdings include Songza, Dollar Shave Club, and RelatelQ, which you sold to Google, Unilever and Salesforce. When do you divest yourself of shares?

Nicole Junkermann: When a specific company no longer needs my help, or when we decide as a majority in conjunction with other investors to exit. However, I’m never planning my subsequent exit from a company as soon as I enter it. My focus is definitely long term, as I usually oversee the investments for several years.

Interviewer: This should also apply above all to your involvement with the legendary picture agency and photographers’ cooperative Magnum, where you were the first external investor to acquire shares in 2017. Did the agency's world-famous photos, such as James Dean in the rain in Times Square, impress you so much?

Nicole Junkermann: I was more impressed by the historical footage of Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989 when the world seemed to stand still for a moment. At the time, those photos from Magnum left a lasting impression on me as a politically interested young woman. I generally draw a great deal of inspiration from art and photography. They open up new perspectives for different thinking. The works of artists and the pictures of photographers are a reflection of their attitudes. The major Magnum photographers are modern storytellers in the best sense of the word.

Interviewer: And you can probably also help when it comes to digitising the agency?

Nicole Junkermann: Maybe. However, Magnum clearly falls into the category of a passion and has become close to my heart emotionally, and thus transcends the financial investment.

Interviewer: Ms Junkermann, thank you very much for the interview.