US-headquartered financial services and insurance group Nationwide increased the amount of capital it has reserved for corporate venturing from $100m to $350m yesterday.
Nationwide launched corporate venturing subsidiary Nationwide Ventures in 2016 and committed over $100m to the vehicle the following year.
The company has since built a 25-strong portfolio that includes business insurance provider Next Insurance, which secured $250m in September 2020, and BlueVine, the business finance provider that raised more than $102m in late 2019.
Although Nationwide broadly invests in financial and insurance technology developers, its focus is more precisely in areas like digital financial infrastructure, retirement assistance, home analytics, fleet management, small business services, cybersecurity and risk management.
Mike Mahaffey, chief strategy and corporate development officer for Nationwide, said: “Nationwide’s initial venture capital investments continue to unlock new sources of value – both to Nationwide and the startups with which we partner.
“Our ventures team has developed and implemented a successful strategy of identifying the strongest companies in which to invest – ones that have already begun producing products and solutions to help our customers and distribution partners. These additional funds will enable the venture team to expand and accelerate that work.”
