China’s Largest Insurer Wants a Piece of the Fintech Pie

Ping An Insurance, China’s largest insurer, is reportedly on the prowl.

Reuters:

Ping An Insurance Group Ltd, China’s largest insurer by market value, is scouting for fintech and healthcare assets in the United States, Israel and Singapore, as it looks to use a $1 billion investment fund, a company executive said.

The Shenzhen-based insurer plans to use the acquired technology and know-how to grow its business in China, Jonathan Larsen, Ping An Group’s chief innovation officer and chairman of the fund, told Reuters on Tuesday.

The company launched the Global Voyager Fund two months ago but was a little light on details. It didn’t mention what type of startups it wanted, and neither did it say which countries it would be looking in. It did say however that it aims to be fully invested by the next three to four years and that it will focus primarily on early-stage companies.

“The primary rationale for the fund is strategic…to find capabilities, ideas, business models and technologies that can be valuable to Ping An,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Hong Kong on Tuesday.

The fund won’t be all about early-stage investing though, 30% of the fund will reportedly be used to fund larger startups, with an expected investment size between $30 million to $100 million. Another 30% of the fund is slated for buyouts, while roughly 10% of it is set for ventures through partner funds.

Which startups the insurer had an eye on is a little unclear, though given what Ping An does, the insurtech scene might get interesting over the next year. Stay tuned.

Photo: Bill Ward