Doug Russell, managing partner and head, MassMutual Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
Doug Russell has run the CVC arm of US life insurance company MassMutual for the past 11 years. He was there at the beginning, launching the CVC unit in 2014, when it began with a fund focusing on investments in the US and Israel. The fund has targeted four to five investments per year and is still running, with more than 40 portfolio companies, mostly in fintech, enterprise SaaS, cybersecurity and data analytics.
In 2018, MassMutual Ventures launched a fund for startups in Europe and the APAC region. It has a higher investment frequency and already counts more than 30 portfolio companies. Its sector remit is wider than the first fund and includes healthtech, climate SaaS and Web3 and crypto startups.
Its most recent fund is the Climate Technology Fund, which invests in US startups working on clean energy, energy software and technology for sustainable cities.
Doug Russell has run MassMutual Ventures for the past 11 years. He was there at the beginning, launching the CVC unit in 2014
A recent investment from the Climate Technology Fund was in Sunairio, which raised a $6.4m round. It makes weather-modelling technology, which MassMutual Ventures says is increasingly important, as climate change increases weather volatility, posing a risk to energy markets and grid planners.
MassMutual Ventures also participated in H2Site’s $48m series B funding round. H2Site makes a separation process for taking hydrogen out of molecules such as ammonia and methane, which are more easily transportable. This can reduce the cost of transporting hydrogen, which needs very expensive equipment to move in its pure form, which will help make it more competitive with fossil fuels as an energy source in the future.
Russell has worked for MassMutual since 2007. He joined as senior vice president, COO and CFO of its retirement income division. This followed a previous role as senior vice president and head of client service for Prudential Financial, another insurer.
In 2009, he became head of strategy and corporate development for MassMutual. It was while in this role that he launched MassMutual Ventures. He has focused exclusively on running the CVC unit since 2016.
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
