China-based insurance firm Ping An will look to invest between $10m and $30m per deal in financial technology developers through the $1bn find it launched last month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Ping An announced the Ping An Global Voyager Fund in early May, revealing it was putting up an initial $1bn that would be invested in international fintech and healthcare startups in a bid to become a major player in corporate venture capital.
Jonathan Larsen, Ping An’s chief innovation officer and CEO of Voyager Fund, said at the WSJ D.Live Asia 2017 conference in Hong Kong the unit will seek out companies its parent company “can learn from”.
The fund will also consider portfolio companies where there is scope for potential joint venture and distribution agreements. Ping An is providing all of its capital, and Larsen said the firm’s eventual aim is to become a “data business,” with Voyager Fund part of several open innovation ventures.
The ventures in question include an established CVC fund called Ping An Ventures and high-profile investments in domestic companies such as Didi Chuxing, the ride hailing service then known as Didi Kuaidi, e-commerce platform Mogujie and livestreaming platform Huya.