Distributed Ventures Makes First Investment, Participates in Ascend's Series A Fundraise

NEW YORK, Jan. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Distributed Ventures, a Seed to Series B venture capital firm, made its initial investment by participating in Ascend's $30Mil Series A fundraise. The investment by Distributed Ventures, whose anchor limited partner is NFP, a leading global insurance broker, along with other strategic and carrier LPs, aligns with the fund's focus on investing in companies that are transforming the future of risk across insurtech, fintech, and health and benefits.

"Ascend is rebuilding critical payment infrastructure that has largely remained untouched for the last several decades," said Mike Peri, Partner, Distributed Ventures. "They've accelerated progress well beyond incremental improvements, materially enhancing the payment experience, as well as the back-end reconciliation process amongst brokers and carriers," added Adam Blumencranz, Partner, Distributed Ventures. "With their first-to-market modern insurance payments platform, Ascend is well positioned to transform the industry."

Distributed Ventures is a new Seed to Series B fund focused on helping founding teams realize their visions at a scale and speed unmatched in early-stage venture today. Partners Shawn Ellis, Adam Blumencranz and Michael Peri lead the fund and are guided by three core tenets: be early, disciplined and active investors; enhance speed by aligning investments with all limited partners' core lines of business; and structure investments in a way that creates a win-win for all.

"We've seen an enormous surge in demand over the last six months since we launched," says Praveen Chekuri, Co-CEO, and Co-Founder at Ascend. "With this new funding and distribution support from industry leaders like NFP, we can meet this demand and help more customers use Ascend's embedded payments and buy-now-pay-later offering. We're excited to receive the backing and financial support of Distributed Ventures as we streamline the sales process for distributors and carriers and build the infrastructure for the future of insurance."

About Distributed Ventures

Distributed Ventures is a Seed to Series B focused fund that invests in entrepreneurs as they transform the future of risk across Fintech, Insurtech, and Digital Health and Benefits. As former founders, investors, and operators, the Distributed Ventures team provides deep subject matter and early-stage operational expertise to help companies find success from day one. Distributed Ventures was born out of NFP Ventures with the goal of helping entrepreneurs demonstrate product-market fit and accelerate commercial traction via diverse distribution channels. For more information, visit distributedvc.com.

About Ascend

Ascend is the modern insurance payments platform that provides automated all-in-one financing, collections, and payables. Founded by two-time insurtech entrepreneurs Andrew Wynn and Praveen Chekuri, Ascend helps distributors sell more by eliminating labor-intensive, expensive processes while providing customers with the great online checkout and financing experience they've come to expect. To learn more, please visit LinkedIn, Twitter or check out https://useascend.com/.

SOURCE Distributed Ventures