RGA & Principal make key investment in Zoë Foundry Reinsurance ...

Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) and Principal Financial Group (Principal) have partnered with Zoë Foundry, the venture studio focused on the employee benefits ecosystem, investing a combined $5 million as their lead investors.

This investment from RGA and Principal will reportedly allow Zoë Foundry to expand its operations and invest further into their portfolio companies.

Zoë Foundry is planning to launch three employee benefits startups annually, focusing on software-as-a-service (SaaS), B2B, and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.

Moreover, the studio has already launched its first two companies – SlainTech, a platform for automating small group health portfolios,  and Bentection, an executive benefits sales enablement platform.

Both ventures have been validated by the market and are actively serving customers, as well as generating revenue, and gaining traction.

Additionally, Zoë Foundry was founded by CEO Garrett Viggers, co-founder of Limelight Health, and his COO/CIO and co-founder Jason T. Andrew, both of which have over 20 years of experience in the employee benefits industry.

They are both joined by Jonathan Mulieri as CTO and co–founder, who brings 20 years of technology leadership.

Dean Abbott, Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. Group Re and Latin America, RGA, commented: “We are pleased to be a lead investor in Zoë Foundry, and our investment reflects RGA’s ongoing commitment to foster innovation in insurance and the reinsurance industry. The experience of Zoë Foundry’s team combined with RGA’s expertise in the group reinsurance sector, gives us confidence in the success and potential of this collaboration. With its unique focus on the employee benefits ecosystem, we look forward to working with Zoë Foundry to develop new solutions that will shape the future of insurtech for insurers, employers, and employees.”

Kara Hoogensen, senior vice president of workplace benefits at Principal, said: “Zoë Foundry has shown the strong potential of a vertically focused venture studio. I’m confident this collaboration will enable us to better support the small to midsize business space aligned with our strategic priorities of creating access to new solutions, technologies, and services. Additionally, I’m pleased to lend my expertise as I join the Board of Zoë Foundry.”

Viggers, added: “Working with the teams at Principal and RGA is a tremendous opportunity. These are world-class companies with deep insights and substantial business in the benefits space. Additionally, collaborating with a team at Zoë that has a proven track record is very exciting.”