Marc Oerke has been head of digital corporate ventures at Germany-based insurer Allianz for the past year.
He is grappling with the digital revolution in financial services that is creating unlikely bedfellows. In November, Allianz, China-based internet conglomerate Baidu and investment firm Hillhouse Capital combined to form a digital insurance company to serve the Chinese market.
And corporate venturing is part of the answer for Allianz. Oerke works closely with Jörg Richtsfeld, head of group digital ventures and strategic partnerships.
Allianz Digital Corporate Ventures seeks investment opportunities and strategic partnerships with early and growth-stage startups companies in five categories, with deals selected by three investment managers – Ruth Foxe Blader, fintech, Markus Hablizel, data and analytics, and Marc Kottmann, internet of things, connected cars and smart homes.
Its recent deals – separate from France-based VC firm Idinvest which was spun out from Allianz – include QuanTemplate Technologies, a UK-based developer of an insurance analytics platform, which raised £5.2m ($8m), and Urgent.ly, a US-based roadside assistance and towing service app developer that raised $7m.
Oerke said: “The solution developed by Urgent.ly delivers a fully customer-centric value proposition in a digitalised way. Our investment in Urgent.ly provides Allianz access to the US market of on-demand roadside assistance and we look forward to promoting partnership opportunities and innovation between Urgent.ly and Allianz in other markets.”
Oerke joined Allianz in 1998 covering mergers and acquisitions, and has been within the broader organisation since then, apart from two years as chief financial officer at Netrecord-z during the dot.com bubble.