New York Life Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of New York Life, has surpassed USD200 million in committed capital in its mission to increase the pace and impact of innovations that drive value for the company’s policy owners and clients.
Since the team’s founding in 2012, New York Life Ventures has made 29 venture capital investments, worked with over 100 start-ups to facilitate “proof of concept” tests with teams across New York Life, and formed strategic partnerships with a select number of these businesses. The venture unit offers its partners a fully staffed research and development lab to explore and test new technologies, while fostering innovation internally through New York Life’s hackathon series and other programs.
New York Life Ventures also delivers strong, consistent returns on its investments to the benefit of New York Life’s policy owners. The team has produced top quartile investment returns since its inception, while adding new solutions and capabilities across the company’s business operations.
Joel Albarella, head of New York Life Ventures since its founding, says: “As one of the first life insurers to enter the corporate venture capital space, we are a first-mover in successfully connecting New York Life with some of the best and brightest firms in the start-up ecosystem. We continue to see great promise in our ever-growing network of early stage companies, and believe that innovation to date has just scratched the surface of what’s possible in the insurance industry.”
John Kim, president of New York Life, says: “New York Life Ventures has been tremendously successful in bringing new thinking and emerging technologies to some of New York Life’s most difficult business challenges. Keeping pace with rapid changes in technology is critical to the company’s future success and the New York Life Ventures team is a key accelerant for these efforts.”
