Nationwide Ventures

Nationwide Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The firm focuses on early-stage startups shaping the future of insurance and financial services, with a mandate spanning fintech, insurtech, mobility, vehicle connectivity and telematics, cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, retirement solutions, agritech, micro-mobility, HR technology, and transportation. Nationwide has committed $350 million to invest in early-stage companies and, as of public disclosures, has deployed more than $150 million with three realized exits. The fund is led by Managing Partner Erik Ross alongside Partners J. Brian Anderson, Jess Liu, and Michael Kindrat-Pratt. Nationwide Ventures typically targets Series A and B companies with roughly $1 million in revenue, writing checks of $1 million to $10 million and investing primarily in the United States and Israel. The fund has made 51 investments, and its portfolio has produced four winners on CB Insights' 2024 Insurtech 50 list. Recent portfolio highlights include Atomic, which received a Series A investment in August 2025; arqu, a digital wholesale insurance brokerage for excess and surplus markets co-invested alongside Crosslink Capital, Lightspeed, Intact Ventures, and Foxe Capital; and CLARA Analytics, an AI platform for commercial insurance claims. Nationwide Ventures operates as a strategic as well as financial partner, working with both portfolio and non-portfolio startups to expand distribution, improve customer satisfaction, and drive operational efficiency for the parent company. The fund's insurance-industry access gives portfolio companies a credible route to enterprise partnerships from the first day of the relationship.