The rest of the 100 (in alphabetical order): Bharat Rajaram, Aflac Ventures
Bharat Rajaram has been chosen as a Rising Star for a second year. As a managing director at Aflac Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle of US-based insurance provider Aflac, Rajaram leads venture investing from deal origination and sourcing through evaluation, due diligence and deal execution, to portfolio monitoring and governance. He also oversees bringing startups to the business units and assisting with building commercial partnerships.
Rajaram said: “I helped set up Aflac Ventures about two years ago and have been leading it since. I will also be leading Aflac’s acceleration program, which is designed to help startups go from pilot to partnership quickly, as well as our seed-stage investment fund.”
Having been at Aflac for more than nine years in various leadership roles in strategy and planning, operations, strategic execution management, M&A and corporate development, Rajaram is a veteran at the organisation.
Aflac Ventures president Nadeem Khan said in his nomination of Rajaram: “Bharat continues to do an outstanding job leading the ventures team at Aflac. He has partnered accelerators and strategic investors in building a platform that makes Aflac Ventures highly visible and accessible to startups around the world. His vast knowledge and understanding of insurance allow him to serve as a valuable mentor and adviser to our portfolio companies.”
A year and a half since inception, by the end of 2018, the fund size had expanded from $100m to $250m. and had closed its 14th investment. More than half the portfolio companies already have a commercial partnership or a pilot with a business unit.
