Reinsurance company PartnerRe and its parent group, holding firm Exor, have joined forces to establish a $100m fund that will invest in technology startups, according to FinSMEs.
Both partners have committed $50m to the fund, called Exor Seeds, which will be led by managing director Noam Ohana. He previously served as managing partner of Conegliano Ventures and was a co-founder and partner of BeaconLight Capital.
Exor Seeds will take a long-term view on investments. It has already invested a total of $20m in 11 US-based startups.
They include business-to-business financial platform Brex, elderly people-focused financial services firm True Link, autonomous vehicle manufacturer Saildrone and breast cancer detection technology developer Kheiron Medical.
The portfolio also includes Life, Reflexion, Privacy, Hexanow, Tekion, Cover and Smallhold, though details about these companies could not be confirmed.
Exor acquired PartnerRe for $6.9bn in August 2015. Last month, reports emerged in Italian media that Exor was seeking ways to reinforce the value of PartnerRe, though it is not clear if Exor Seeds is a result of these ambitions.