China's Ping An launches $1 billion fintech and health care fund
Ping An Insurance Group, China's largest insurer by market value, is launching its first overseas fund to invest in financial technology (fintech) and health care tech worldwide.
Headed by Jonathan Larsen, an 18-year veteran of Citigroup, who joins as chief innovation officer, the $1 billion Ping An Global Voyager Fund will be run out of Hong Kong.
The fund will look for investments in early stage fintech and healthcare technology firms around the world, according to a statement released on Thursday, and comes as part of Ping An's attempt to expand beyond its home market and target overseas growth as China's economy slows.
The Shenzhen-based financial group plans to invest in the fund over the next three to four years as part of an ongoing drive to build up its expertise in the fintech and health care monitoring tech arenas. It already has fintech experience via its Lufax subsidiary, which is China's biggest peer-to-peer (P2P) lending and wealth management platform.
Ping An Ventures, the insurer's existing venture capital firm, mainly focuses on early-stage investments in China and isn't focused purely on the fintech and health care sectors, as the new fund will be.