American Family Insurance Group, an insurer based in Wisconsin, plans to invest $50m over the next four to five years through a corporate venturing unit known as American Family Ventures, the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal reported yesterday.
Dan Reed, director of American Family Ventures, told the Journal Sentinel that the unit is targeting startups developing technologies, concepts and business models relevant to the insurance sector such as big data, adding that it has already invested in “about a dozen” companies.
“Our goal is to find and partner with innovative, forward-thinking start-ups that can help us better serve our policyholders today and in the future,” he said.
American Family initially formed its corporate venturing unit in 2010, with one of its earliest portfolio companies being social marketing platform Shoutlet, which latterly raised $15m from FTV Capital in a 2012 series C round.
Other companies in American Family Ventures’ portfolio include data analytics software developer Zero Locus, Revolv, which is creating a control system for connected devices, and data analytics provider Network Insights.