US-based life insurance provider Northwestern Mutual committed another $150m to its corporate venturing activities yesterday, in the form of a vehicle known as Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures Fund II.
The company entered the venture capital space in early 2017 through the launch of the $50m Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures fund.
The fund has supplied a total of $43m to 14 companies including Chime, the digital bank valued at $1.5bn as of March this year, real estate chatbot developer Ojo Labs, online life insurance provider Ladder and healthcare bill management platform developer Amino.
In addition to launching its second fund, Northwestern Mutual is also increasing the upper end of its investments and will now provide between $500,000 and $5m to startups, as opposed to the $3m limit it had previously set.
The unit intends to initially invest in portfolio companies at series A and B stage, and is targeting companies developing consumer finance, digital health, customer experience and data analytics technologies.
Souheil Badran, an executive vice-president who is also Northwestern Mutual’s chief innovation officer, said: “We are committed to transforming the client experience to drive change within the financial services industry.
“This additional capital will allow us to build on the success of Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures and invest in new technologies that have the ability to accelerate growth and advance innovation so we can create what is next for our clients, financial representatives and employees.”
