US-based insurance provider Aflac intends to put together a $100m fund in order to make strategic venture capital investments, Atlanta Business Chronicle reported yesterday.
Aflac plans to build the unit, Aflac Corporate Ventures, up over the next three years and will target investments in developers of software or digital products that complement its core business and enhance the insurance value chain.
Nadeem Khan has been promoted to president of Aflac Corporate Ventures from a role as senior vice-president of corporate development at Aflac, with Bharat Rajaram as managing director of the corporate venturing unit.
Aflac Corporate Ventures will be run out of offices in North Carolina and California and will be operated in conjunction with an as-yet undisclosed accelerator partner.
Paul S. Amos II, Aflac’s president of global operations, said: “With a greater focus on the customer experience, we feel that it is vital that Aflac prioritises potential partners that will help us enhance services and shareholder value, while building our future growth engine,”
“By investing in companies that we see as vital to our core business, we will be positioned to innovate as these early-stage companies continue to mature.”
The move comes at a time when insurtech is becoming a more viable path for corporate venturing, with pure-play insurance platforms like Simplesurance netting cash from insurance groups that are also investing in the neighbouring sectors of healthcare and fintech.