Douglas Russell, head of MassMutual Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2024 Powerlist.
Douglas Russell has been head of MassMutual Ventures (MMV) since 2014. During his ten years of leadership, the venturing arm of US-based Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance has made more than 90 investments in startups and had 10 successful exits.
The venture unit has expanded in that time, raising several new funds. MMV launched a $100m Climate Technology Fund in November 2022, aiming to invest in 15 to 20 early and growth-stage climate tech companies in the US. This new fund came in the same year the unit launched another $100m fund aimed at investing in North America and Israel, bringing the total capital managed by its US-Israel team to $400m.
MMV has a global remit and already had a team focusing on investments in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The range of investment areas are broad, including fintech, cybersecurity, digital health tech and enterprise software. The unit participates in both early and growth-stage rounds.
Recent investments include the $47m series C round raised by insurtech startup Qoala, which MMV co-led with PayPal Ventures in March 2024. MMV also co-led, along with Capital One Ventures, a $44m Series 1 round achieved by identity-verification software developer Prove.
During his ten years of leadership, MassMutual Ventures has made more than 90 investments in
startups and had 10 successful exits.
Notable exits include the $780m acquisition of enterprise security company Recorded Future by private equity firm Insight Partners in 2019. Additionally, MMV facilitated the $440m acquisition of Even Financial, a financial services search engine, by the mobile banking platform Money Lion in 2021.
Prior to MMV, Russell spent nearly a decade with the MassMutual Financial Group. Initially, he served as chief financial officer of the retirement income division, later transitioning to the role of head of strategy and corporate development. In his earlier professional career, Russell held positions at Prudent Financial, Cigna and ING, among others.
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.
