MassMutual's VC arm sets up US$50m fund in Singapore

MASSMUTUAL Ventures (MMV), the venture capital arm of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), has established a US$50 million Singapore-based fund for investments in South-east Asia.

MMV SEA is targeting Series A and Series B round investments in digital health, fintech, insurtech and enterprise software. It will invest in 10 to 15 startups over the next three years.

MMV SEA will also work with MassMutual International - MassMutual's international insurance holding company - to identify potential investments and opportunities for MMV's portfolio companies.

The fund is led by two managing directors - Ryan Collins and Anvesh Ramineni.

Prior to joining MMV SEA, Mr Collins was head of Asia at Manulife's LOFT incubator, developing new business models and technologies in insurance and investment services, said MMV in a press statement.

Before LOFT, he was Asia managing director at Essentia Analytics, a data analytics software-as-a-service company. He also held a role as executive director at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and Hong Kong, where he advised on and executed multiple capital markets transactions across Asia-Pacific.

Mr 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 technology, media and telecom investment banker at Citigroup Global Markets in Hong Kong.

The new fund brings the four-year-old MMV's total capital under management to US$250 million. MMV invests in seed to growth stage companies in North America, Europe and Israel, with a focus that includes fintech, insurtech, cybersecurity, data analytics, digital health and enterprise software.