US-headquartered insurance firm Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company has established a $50m investment vehicle called MM Catalyst Fund that will fund companies with diverse founders in its home state of Massachusetts.
The capital allocation partly consists of a $25m fund dubbed MMCF Growth which will provide equity and debt financing for Massachusetts-based businesses with black founders, owners or managers.
The other half of the funding will go to MMCF Tech, a fund which will provide equity funding for technology developers based in Massachusetts but outside of state capital Boston.
MM Catalyst Fund will invest between $250,000 and $2.5m per deal and is being overseen by Rilwan Meeran, an impact investment portfolio manager for MassMutual.
Meeran said: “Impact investing at MassMutual seeks to create a positive social and environmental impact that is measurable while also making market rate financial returns. Philanthropy alone cannot solve our society’s problems; institutional capital investment should also play a role.”
