It has been just over two years that Cuna Mutual Group, the US-based mutual insurance company providing financial services to credit unions and their members, launched its corporate venturing capital (CVC) unit, CMFG Ventures.
Created in response to the “disruption” that it saw occurring in financial services, CMFG aims to support early-stage fintech companies that help credit unions meet the needs of modern consumers by addressing needs in credit union technology and resources.
To date, the fund has deployed $50m in funding spread across 10 portfolio companies, including seven deals as lead investor. Investment tickets provided by the investor typically range between $1-5m, in seed to series-B rounds.
One of CMFG’s first investments was in online car repair services platform ForeverCar, for which it led a series A round in 2016, and co-invested in a $3m round a year later.
Last year then saw a five deals succeeding each other, starting with a $5m series A round as lead investor for Cunexus Solutions, which provides consumer lending services for banks and credit unions.
This was quickly followed by a contribution to a $2.6m round for data-enabled fraud detection platform Rippleshot, by a seed investment of $2.25m for digital mortgage platform MortgageHippo, and by a $5.5m series A round for Fiscalhive, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered financial technology platform aiming to speed up transaction times.
Other current portfolio companies include Jennylife, which provides life insurance for women and mothers; Align, specialised in income share funding; Mirador, a front-end small business lending platform; the online financial advice service SmartAsset; and auto loans and car refinancing platform Springboardauto.com.
Brian Kaas, president and managing director of CMFG Ventures and a GCV Rising Star 2017 winner, said the unit had already launched broad distribution and commercial deals for two of its earliest investments, leveraging the firm’s business relationships with 97% of all US credit unions and their 100 million-plus members.
It is also in the process of launching extensive commercial deals for two additional portfolio companies, and has identified further potential deals for others.
Kaas said: “We have developed a roadmap for 2018, whereby our organisation will be coordinating media opportunities, webinars and other promotional opportunities to build awareness and drive interest in our portfolio companies within the credit union system.”
And indeed, the unit has spared no efforts in promoting its investment approach and philosophy, having given around 40 presentations across the US, including pitches to executive leaderships at individual credit unions, and national conferences on insurtech, fintech and early-stage investment. Last year, it also arranged a ventures summit at Cuna’s headquarters, during which all portfolio companies were brought in.
A graduate of Univeristy of Wisconsin-Madison, where he completed his Juris Doctorate (law doctorate degree) in 1998, Kaas started off his career with a 14-year long stint at international law firm Foley & Lardner, which he left as a partner in 2012.
At Cuna Mutual, aside from heading the firm’s CVC unit, he is also vice president of corporate development, overseeing all M&A activity and strategic transactional initiatives within the organisation.
When he is off-duty, Kaas enjoys playing golf, and spending every moment he can with his wife Sarah and their two children, aged 12 and 10.