Luca Gori, partner at law firm DLA Piper moderated a panel discussing to what extent CVCs stay relevant to their parent companies’ sector in the context of making the world a better place, featuring Ben Luckett, chief innovation officer of insurance group Aviva and founding managing director of its venturing unit Aviva Ventures, and Alokik Advani from financial services firm Fidelity’s International Strategic Ventures unit.
Environmental, social and governance considerations are at the heart of Aviva’s investment strategy, according to Luckett. From the venturing perspective, it has meant the company is actively looking to deploy capital in companies working in climate tech and sustainability, as decarbonising is key to hitting climate goals.
Advani emphasised the importance of holding startups to the same standard as public companies in terms of their approach to ESG. Regarding the possible tension between ESG and profit, both Advani and Luckett agreed the two go hand in hand.
Given the sentiments of pension holders towards some of these issues, they should have a voice in how the money is invested, Advani said. “That same notion that portfolio manager would go out to talk to public companies and say these are the things we care about and would like you to do something, is the same power that pension holders should have within the company.”
Luckett echoed that view: “We see a future where you can engage customers in choices and give them a voice.” Luckett also made reference to Aviva trial programmes where the most ESG-aligned options were also the most popular, revealing no tension at all between ESG and profit.
On balancing governance and environmental focus, Luckett said: “They are inextricably linked – the mindset underpinning each of them is equally important. At different times there is a different focus but I do not think either is less important over time.”
Governance becomes very important when assessing investee companies – not just in terms of their vision, passion or ability to execute, but also in the extent to which their values align with the corporate – something that can be a dealbreaker if the fit is not right.
