Australia-based insurance firm Insurance Australia Group (IAG) intends to form a corporate venturing fund that will operate through its IAG Ventures innovation unit, The Sydney Moring Herald reported on Monday.
IAG Ventures was created in 2014 and interacts with startups to create new insurance models that operate as joint ventures, but the new fund will seek to make strategic investments. IAG is yet to finalise the fund’s investment model or how much capital it will commit, but hopes to do so by April this year.
The unit will prioritise growth-stage companies as opposed to early-stage startups, Ron Arnold general manager of venturing for IAG, told the Herald. It will aim to fund businesses that could help come up with new delivery models for insurance, including big data and telematics technology developers.
Arnold said: “This will allow us to keep touch with startups doing innovative things. We will be able to tap into them and bring customers a better proposition, or enhance what we are developing.”
AMP, an Australia-based financial services group that also offers insurance, launched its own strategic investment subsidiary, AMP New Ventures, in March 2015.