The UK insurer’s CVC team, headed by Ben Luckett, has joined Aviva Investors’ newly formed venture and strategic capital function.
UK insurer Aviva has added its corporate venture capital arm, Aviva Ventures, to its asset management subsidiary, Aviva Investors, in the wake of the UK government’s Mansion House Compact reforms, which allow 5% of workplace pension funds to be invested in unlisted companies.
As part of the reorganisation, Aviva Investors is now equipped with venture capital and strategic capital capability. The Aviva Ventures team will fall under the auspices of its private markets group, which already oversees more than £40bn ($52.7bn) in assets.
Ben Luckett (pictured), Aviva Ventures’ founding managing director, is now managing director of VC and strategic capital at Aviva Investors. Five full-time CVC team members are set to join this initiative.
Aviva Ventures was founded in 2016 with an initial £100m ($150m at the time) capital, focusing on areas strategic to its parent firm, including mobility, risk prevention, healthcare, financial, data and AI technologies. In April last year, Aviva committed an additional £150m to the CVC fund.
