American Family Ventures, the strategic investment arm of US-based insurance firm American Family, has appointed Drew Aldrich as principal.
Aldrich moved from AXA Strategic Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for another insurer, AXA, where he was a senior associate for just over two years. He had been a director of France-headquartered AXA’s US subsidiary, AXA Equitable, since 2012.
American Family Ventures typically provides between $500,000 and $2m as a first investment, and seeks to fund insurance-related startups as well as digital connection technology and big data analytics.
The unit has a total of 19 companies in its portfolio as well as a partnership with Microsoft Ventures, the corporate venture capital unit formed by software provider Microsoft. Aldrich will be working with investments at the seed, series A and B stages.
Prior to joining AXA, Aldrich was chief strategy officer and senior vice-president of electronic display and lighting product maker Trans-Lux. He also founded startup CalendarFly.com in 2008, serving as CEO.
– Photo of Drew Aldrich courtesy of LinkedIn