MassMutual sets up $50m Southeast Asia VC fund

MassMutual Ventures will use the vehicle to make Series A and B-round investments in 10-15 start-ups across the next three years via a new office in Singapore. Focus areas will include digital health, insurance, and enterprise software.

MassMutual International – an affiliated insurance holding company – is expected to support the fund by leveraging its relationships in the region and identifying potential investment opportunities for portfolio companies.

"This new fund underscores our commitment to building a true global MassMutual Ventures platform, which will identify successful start-up companies that align with MassMutual's prudent investment strategy, providing the best returns for our company," Doug Russell, a managing director at MassMutual Ventures who will oversee the fund, said in a statement.

The firm’s Southeast Asia team also includes Ryan Collins, a former executive director at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and Hong Kong who served as head of Asia at Manulife's Loft incubator and Asia managing director at data analytics company Essentia Analytics. Collins will be joined by Anvesh Ramineni, formerly head of investments at Sinagpore’s OpenSpace Ventures.

MassMutual Ventures set up its first fund in 2014 with a corpus of $200 million and a similar remit that also included investments in cybersecurity, data analytics, and IT infrastructure. Fund I focuses on North America, Europe, and Israel. 

Activity among corporate VCs is ramping up in Asia as strategics look to access new technology and position themselves for future growth. Southeast Asia is said to have seen more than 60 corporate VCs set up bases in the region in the past two years alone.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Venture
• Fundraising
• Singapore
• USA
• Financial Services
• Technology
• insurance
• healthcare
• Venture