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PruVen Capital , a fintech and indemnity tech speculation fund founded by former Battery Ventures and Citi Ventures VC Ramneek Gupta , has closed a fresh $ 378.5 million Fund II to invest in fiscal service and go-ahead - focused startups .
This 2nd fund is significant because Gupta expanded it beyond a corporate store with one main L-P — Prudential Financial — into one supported by a number of fiscal and insurance L-P . Prudential Financial is the lead investor but the fund also let in TIAA , Lincoln Financial , Generali , Nippon Life , Mutual of Omaha and Willis Towers Watson . Prudential was the solo LP in PruVen ’s first monetary fund of $ 300 million .
Gupta require to wrap up investments from Fund I and begin invest out of Fund II later this month .
PruVen competes by offering portfolio companies access to pardner with those top globose insurance companies as customers . This not only helps them get a massive first client , but also dedicate the LPs a first - look at emerging technologies .
Insurance and fiscal servicing companies are highly technology drive and are eager to not just invest in , but better half with , startup , Gupta says . He points out that their partnership is significant because they are “ material businesses ” with existent revenue and earnings . They be given to be long - standing customer involved in everything from consumer to B2B , and at scale of measurement , he said .
This was something Gupta bid he had when he was at society likeZappedy , which was acquired by Grouponin 2011 . The company was working on exit the online to offline loop in the daily deals space .
Prior to that , Gupta had been a principal at ITU Ventures and cooperator at Battery Ventures and decide to get back into investing after the acquirement . During that time he thought about what would make him a better investor .
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“ I keep come back to what would have happened if somebody was able to aid me with that first reference customer , ” he tell TechCrunch . “ I would have given an arm and a leg as a founding father . ”
He did n’t go out on his own right aside , but get a call instead from Citi , which wanted him to help build Citi Ventures , which he did for the next nine years . During that time , he put that “ first reference customer ” hypothesis to the test and created a playbook to keep it going .
Between 2011 and 2020 , the orbicular investment venture team commit in 140 companies , including Square , Jet.com , Docusign and Honey , where more than half of the company shoot down actual commercial outcomes with a Citi business organization as a outcome of the squad ’s efforts .
In 2020 , Gupta provide Citi Ventures to set out PruVen .
“ I had the proof full stop that finding that first mention client creates a fate of mutual value , and I had the playbook on how to do it , ” Gupta said . “ That ’s when I decided to go improve on the structure with an sovereign firm structure . ”
That ’s when he joined force with Prudential . As an self-governing house , he said he was able to move quickly to build an even bighearted net of LPs for his next fund .
Gupta ’s first investment trust , raised four age ago , vest in company like Bilt Rewards , Newfront Insurance , Angle Health , Contabilizei , Unite Us and Pismo , which wasacquired by Visafor $ 1 billion in 2023 .
It ’s too early to hash out return on investing for Fund 1 , Gupta said , but he did say the first fund presently has a 10 % distribute to give - in capital ( DPI ) .
“ We feel like we have some really salutary winner , ” he said . “ Obviously , it require time for all of these to grow , mature and redeem riposte . The best affair I can portion out with you is we do have actual DPI and money returned to our LP . Even though it ’s a start , it is a powerful signal to them that the model works . ”
chastisement : This clause has been updated to correctly reflect Ramneek Gupta ’s employment history . He is a former Battery Ventures partner .
