PruVen Capital, a fintech and insurance tech venture fund founded by former Benchmark and Citi ventures VC Ramneek Gupta, has closed a new $378.5 million Fund II to invest in financial services and enterprise-focused startups. Gupta expects to wrap up investments from Fund I and begin investing out of Fund II later this month.
Gupta expanded the second fund beyond a corporate fund backed by Prudential Financial and now has support from various financial and insurance LPs like TIAA, Lincoln Financial, Generali, Nippon Life, Mutual of Omaha, and Willis Towers Watson, with Prudential Financial as the lead investor. Prudential was the sole LP in Pruven’s initial fund of $300 million.
PruVen competes by providing portfolio companies the opportunity to partner with top global insurance companies as customers. This helps the companies secure a significant first customer and gives the LPs early access to emerging technologies. Gupta believes that insurance and financial services companies increasingly rely on technology and are eager to invest in and partner with startups.
Gupta wished he had such support when he was at companies like Zappedy, which was acquired by Groupon in 2011. Prior to that, Gupta was a principal at ITU Ventures and a partner at Battery Ventures. While reflecting on his experience, he realized the importance of having a reference customer and the value it could bring to early-stage startups.
Between 2011 and 2020, Gupta worked with Citi Ventures and invested in 140 companies, leading to commercial outcomes for over half of these companies. In 2020, he left Citi Ventures to establish PruVen and leverage his experience in creating mutual value through the mentorship of first reference customers.
Gupta’s first fund, raised four years ago, invested in successful companies like Bilt Rewards, Newfront Insurance, Angle Health, Contabilizei, UniteUs, and Pismo (acquired by Visa for $1 billion in 2023). While it is too early to discuss the return on investment for Fund I, Gupta mentioned that the first fund currently has a 10% distributed to paid-in capital (DPI).
He emphasized the importance of building a network of LPs for his next fund, highlighting the success of locating a first reference customer. Gupta expressed confidence in the potential success of his investments and the effectiveness of his model in generating returns for LPs.
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