Future Focus: December 2024
Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures
Investing in Financial Technology | Digital Health | Re-imagining Customer Experience
Welcome to our December newsletter! ? The holiday season is just around the corner, and we’re excited to share our 2024 wrap-up along with the key highlights from this year. In this newsletter, you’ll find:
Market Commentary ??
As we fast-forward to 2025, it’s a perfect time to reflect on our journey through 2024. This year, the VC landscape continued to show familiar trends from 2023: an emphasis on a clear path to profitability, a cautious investment environment, and a sustained focus on AI-driven innovation. What sets 2024 apart is the strong prioritization of sustainable growth and long-term value, shifting away from the more cautious, growth-at-scale approach that still prevailed in 2023. ?
For Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, 2024 was a productive year. We had the opportunity to meet many exceptional founders and explore their innovative ideas, leading to several investments in high-potential startups. In addition to securing those deals, we also formed valuable partnerships with our portfolio companies and integrated their solutions internally. ?
?In this newsletter, we are excited to share our key highlights from 2024: ? ??
1. Investments:?This year, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures invested in five new startups: Letter AI , Alkymi , Ocient , Levitate , and Sandbox Wealth . While each company brings a unique solution to the table, they all share one key goal – optimizing efficiency and streamlining operations for businesses and clients. In addition to these new investments, we also participated in several follow-on rounds for our existing portfolio companies, such as VRGL , further fueling their growth and expansion. ?
2. Partnerships: The beauty of being a corporate investor is that you focus not only on the financial returns of your investment but also on the strategic value a startup can bring to your organization. This year, we launched several key partnerships with our portfolio companies, including one with Alkymi . Alkymi helps Northwestern Mutual to automate data processing for complex private investment workflows. This automation has streamlined data ingestion processes, reducing risks associated with manual data entry, while delivering real-time data to its loan management and accounting systems.??
3. Meeting colleagues in the field: We had the opportunity to meet and spend time with our colleagues in the Northwestern Mutual advisor network. These interactions allow us to gain a deeper understanding of the market and the needs of advisors and clients. By directly engaging with our advisor teams, we were able to capture firsthand insights that help us to identify new investment opportunities. This year, we visited our colleagues in Seattle, New York and San Francisco. ? ?
In the meantime, we want to thank all our startups, VC partners, and colleagues at NM for strong friendships and collaborations this year. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!??
The NM Future Ventures Team?
Recent Investments??
领英推荐
This month, we had the opportunity to interview Char Hu , the founder and CEO of The Helper Bees . Char shares the story behind his inspiration to start The Helper Bees, the key business lessons he has learned along the way, and what’s next for the company.
Portfolio News ??
1) Levitate Ranked 195th Fastest-Growing Company in North America on the 2024 Deloitte Technology Fast 500?
Congratulations to our portfolio company Levitate ! Winners of the Technology Fast 500 award are chosen based on the percentage of fiscal year revenue growth from 2020 to 2023, and Levitate achieved a growth rate of 595% during this time.??
2) Goalsetter's Founder Joined Northwestern Mutual's Podcast "A Better Way to Money"
Our portfolio company Goalsetter 's founder and CEO, Tanya Van Court , joined Northwestern Mutual's A Better Way to Money Podcast , where she discussed how to talk to kids about money and establish healthy financial habits early on. ?
Future Ventures Newsroom ??
NMFV Attended McGill Junge Wealth Management Event?
Last month, Craig Schedler , Managing Director of Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures , shared the stage with Restive Ventures founder Ryan Falvey and Paceline founder and CEO Joel Lieginger at a client event hosted by Chris Welton, Scott McEachron, and McGill Junge Wealth Management . The panel discussion explored what it takes to bring an idea to life,?launch a successful company, and what VCs seek in startup founders.
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