Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures

Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures (NMFV) is the corporate venture capital arm of Northwestern Mutual, the 165-plus-year-old US life insurance and financial planning mutual. The fund launched in 2017 with an initial $50 million commitment, expanded to a $150 million second fund in May 2019, and today manages more than $300 million in assets under management out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The investment program was built and scaled under longtime Managing Director Craig Schedler over a 13-year tenure before his transition to Intuit Ventures in 2024; NMFV continues operating through the broader corporate venturing team. The fund deploys initial cheques of $500,000 to $5 million at Series A and Series B into US-based startups, with significant follow-on capacity. The investment thesis centers on four priority areas aligned to Northwestern Mutual's mission: consumers' changing preferences, reimagining the client experience, the digital health revolution, and transformational analytics and technologies. Across 77 lifetime investments, notable portfolio companies include Betterment, the New York-based robo-advisor pioneer; Rize, a consumer savings platform; Inclined, which raised an $8 million Series B in 2025 focused on whole-life-insurance liquidity; and Alkymi and Ocient, both invested in 2025. The most recent disclosed investment is Letter AI, a business productivity software company backed in February 2026. NMFV's strategic value to portfolio companies lies in access to Northwestern Mutual's distribution network — its more than 6,500 financial advisors serve several million clients — making the fund a meaningful commercial partner as well as a financial backer for companies building in fintech, healthtech, and analytics.