With the launch of its new fund, the Japanese insurer's corporate venturing unit has assets under management of $400m, up tenfold since its first fund.
MS&AD Ventures, the CVC arm of Japanese insurance group MS&AD, has announced a $100m fund, MS&AD Ventures V, its fifth investment fund.
This puts the CVC’s total assets under management at $400m, which is 10 times the starting capital from its first fund. Jon Soberg, the CEO and managing partner of MS&AD Ventures, said, “We are growing and have already done a couple of deals in the new fund”.
The US-based CVC unit was established in 2018, and invests in insurtech, property, health, fintech and transport. As of July, it has made over 110 investments and had 12 exits. It had more than $100m calculated actuals – real recorded revenues – from business units in 2023 alone.
In March, it took part in the $25m series C funding round for Vouch, a business insurance provider which specialises in coverage for startups. Another portfolio company is Artificial Labs, a UK startup that makes AI-automated products for insurers to make use of their data.
The new fund comes right at the end of a quiet year for insurtech investment, with the number of corporate-backed deals in 2024 down to 52 from 83 in 2023, with a dollar value drop of $1.2bn, according to GCV’s data as it stood on 18 December.
