Brown Brown says while he was deputy general counsel of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association he had the idea to do the strategic corporate venture fund, which became Sandbox.

The corporate-backed venture firm Aster became independent of France-based industrial group Schneider Electric in 2010, and is backed by two other corporate backers, equipment provider Alstom and chemical company Solvay Rhodia. The company is also set to reveal an undisclosed European financial institution as its next investor, Bally said.

Weaver is responsible for managing the current portfolio of seven companies as well as directing all acquisition and corporate development activities for the corporation.

He moved to the role having been a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) project leader at Syngenta, where he has worked since 2009.