MassMutual Ventures Launches US$50M Southeast Asian Fund

singapore
MassMutual Ventures has launched a US$50M fund dedicated to investing in Southeast Asian startups.

Backed by the general investment account of parent company Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia (MMV SEA) will make investments in 10 to 15 startup companies throughout the region over the next three years.

The fund is targeting Series A and Series B round investments companies in the following sectors:
– digital health,
– fintech,
– insurtech, and
– enterprise software.

Led by two Managing Directors – Ryan Collins and Anvesh Ramineni, MMV SEA will also work with MassMutual International – MassMutual’s international insurance holding company – leveraging its relationships in the region, to identify potential investments and opportunities for MMV’s portfolio companies.
Doug Russell, MMV Managing Director, will oversee MMV SEA’s operations.

MassMutual Ventures is a return-focused venture capital fund investing in seed to growth stage companies in North America, Europe, Israel and (now) Southeast Asia. Key areas of investment focus include fintech, insurtech, cybersecurity, data analytics, digital health and enterprise software. Today, MassMutual Ventures manages US$250m across Boston-based MMV and Singapore based MMV SEA.

The new funding brings the total capital under management for four-year old MMV – a return focused fund investing in dynamic and innovative seed to growth stage companies in North America, Europe, Israel, and now Southeast Asia – to US$250m.

Prior to joining MMV SEA, Collins was Head of Asia at Manulife’s LOFT incubator, developing new business models and technologies in insurance and investment services. Before LOFT, he was Asia Managing Director at Essentia Analytics, a data analytics SaaS company. Formerly an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and Hong Kong, Collins has advised on and executed multiple capital markets transactions across Asia-Pacific.
He holds a BSc in Computer Science and an MSc in Psychology.

Ramineni was most recently Head of the Investments Team at OpenSpace Ventures (formerly NSI Ventures), Singapore, where he was a founding member of the firm and led investments in 12 companies. Prior to OpenSpace, he was a TMT investment banker at Citigroup Global Markets in Hong Kong, where he worked on strategic financial advisory mandates and executed marquee M&A and capital markets transactions across Asia.
Ramineni holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Communications Engineering, and an MBA with a concentration in Finance.

Entrepreneurs interested in working with the MMV SEA team can contact the investment team directly at [email protected].

FinSMEs

07/11/2018

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