Odysseus Alternative Ventures announces the launch of Insurtech Capital with the APICIL Group as a Strategic Partner.

Odysseus Alternative Ventures (OAV), the private equity and venture capital arm of Reech Corporations Group, announces a partnership with the APICIL Group, France’s 4th largest provider of social protection, to create its first Insurtech fund: Insurtech Capital I. Launched with a commitment of €10m, the Fund will invest in a variety of French and European start-ups that are seeking to develop new technologies, new business models and new forms of delivery for the insurance sector.

The Fund is targeting investments in innovative companies within the insurance sector which are early stage start-ups (Seed and Serie A), leveraging OAV’s proprietary semi- automated sourcing platform to identify and filter promising candidates for investment. To date, OAV has several thousand companies in its database, the majority of which are developing responses to specific issues which are emerging as the industry seeks to digitalise its activities and identify future areas of growth.

The ambition of the Insurtech Capital Fund is eventually to scale with other European insurance companies in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK, seeking similar exposure to this fast growing subset of the insurance industry.

For APICIL, the benefits are two-fold: as well as acquiring investment exposure to a fast growing subset of the industry, the Fund will offer access to sources of innovation which will drive future growth and profitability for the Group as a whole. This partnership fits within the Group’s DEFIS 2020 Strategic Plan which aims to accelerate the digitalisation of its activities.

A key feature of the OAV concept is its ability to structure investment vehicles which provide meaningful access to this fast emerging asset class alongside exposure to related alternative assets. Through OAV, they will be able to tap into the wider Reech Corporations Group’s network, resources and expertise. Being able to draw on this deep well of expertise in managing the underlying assets classes as well as having first-hand experience creating and scaling profitable technology businesses, makes OAV a unique proposition which will deliver strong, sustainable returns to investors.

Minh Q. Tran, CEO of OAV said: ”We strongly believe that our unique investing approach is an attractive way to allow investors meaningful access to the superior returns that are available to those who can successfully identify the future disruptors across a range of financial and technology related businesses. We welcome APICIL as a strategic partner in this Fund which is truly an innovative VC-as-a-Service concept in the insurance industry.”

Christophe Reech, Chairman of Reech Corporations Group added: ”Together with APICIL, we will be able to create a unique investment platform which will support and nurture promising early stage companies in one of the most exciting areas of the insurance industry. We are pleased to have a partner with the vision and expertise that APICIL is able to bring. For our part, we believe our experience in working with entrepreneurial companies, and the

expertise within the wider Reech Group of managing a range of funds across multiple asset classes, will make for an extremely powerful combination.”

Philippe Barret, APICIL’s Director General added: ”We are delighted to announce this partnership with Odysseus Alternative Ventures, which will transform our business. This Fund will enable us to participate actively in the growth and development of the start-up ecosystem in France and across Europe. We will also gain the ability to benefit as a company from the disruptive transformation sweeping our industry.”