Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) announced today the expansion of its venture capital arm, MassMutual Ventures (MMV), into Southeast Asia.
MMV SEA will be based in Singapore, with US$50 million to be invested in Series A and B funding rounds for digital health, fintech, insurtech, and enterprise software startups.
The fund aims to invest in 10 to 15 seed-to-growth stage startups over the next three years.
It will also work closely with MassMutual International to identify potential investment opportunities suitable for MMV’s portfolio companies.
Overseeing MMV SEA’s operations will be MMV Managing Director Doug Russell, while the Singapore-based fund is being led by two other Managing Directors, Ryan Collins and Anvesh Ramineni.
Collins has previously been Head of Asia for Manulife’s incubator, LOFT, and Asia Managing Director at Essentia Analytics, a data analytics software-as-a-service (SaaS) company.
He was also an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs in Tokyo and Hong Kong, where he advised on multiple Asia-Pacific capital market transactions.
Ramineni was a founding member and Head of Investments at OpenSpace Ventures (formerly NSI Ventures), and previously an investment banker at Citigroup Global Markets in Hong Kong.
With this new fund in SEA, the US venture capital firm, which has previously invested in startups across North America, Europe and Israel, brings its total capital under management to US$250 million.
“This new fund underscores our commitment to building a true global MassMutual Ventures platform, which will identify successful startup companies that align with MassMutual’s prudent investment strategy, providing the best returns for our company,” said Russell.
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