AXA has launched a EUR200 million venture capital fund dedicated to investing in budding strategic innovations in the insurance, asset management, financial technology and healthcare service industries.
Led by François Robinet, with a presence in San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, Zurich and Berlin, and plans to launch in Asia in the near future, AXA Strategic Ventures will have on-the-ground coverage of investment opportunities across the globe.
Henri de Castries, chairman and CEO of AXA, says the aim of the fund is to harness technological disruption for the benefit of the Group.
“Through AXA Strategic Ventures, we will leverage our global reach, capital and scale to serve as an accelerating force for start-up companies which have the potential to bring new approaches to the insurance model," he says. "We are aiming through this investment to better serve our customers and improve our daily interactions with them.”
AXA has already successfully seeded start-ups in Europe, with investments in five companies through the “AXA Seed Factory” - a seed fund launched in France in June 2013 and that will now be folded into AXA SV.