Australian investment firm Boman Group has announced its participation in Anthropic’s $13-billion Series F funding round, while Brookfield Wealth Solutions announced its reinsurance partnership in Japan. Separately, Australia-based female-focused crowdfunding platform LIFTWOMEN has raised funding.
Boman Group invests in Anthropic’s round
Australian investment firm Boman Group has announced its participation in Anthropic’s $13-billion Series F funding round. The deal makes Boman Group the first Australian fund to hold stakes in Anthropic and OpenAI, the world’s leading AI companies.
“To now be investors in both OpenAI and Anthropic is significant not only for our fund, but also for Australia’s role in the global AI ecosystem. These two companies are shaping the future of artificial intelligence, and being part of that journey provides immense strategic value for our investors,” said Eric Gao, CEO and founder of Boman Group, in a statement.
The funding, which was announced in early September, was led by ICONIQ. The round also saw participation from big backers, including Altimeter, Bailie Gifford, Blackstone, Coatue, D1 Capital Partners, and more.
In October 2024, Boman Group participated in OpenAI’s $6.6-billion round at a $150 billion pre-money valuation. Other late-stage investments from its unicorn strategy fund include Airbnb, DJI, Databricks, and Klarna.
Brookfield Wealth Solutions in pact with Dai-ichi Frontier Life
Brookfield Wealth Solutions announced its first reinsurance partnership in Japan, signing an agreement with Dai-ichi Frontier Life, one of the country’s leading insurers. The agreement will allow Dai-ichi to transfer certain liabilities to Brookfield’s U.S. subsidiary, American National Insurance Company, on a flow basis.
The deal follows Brookfield’s decision to set up a representative office in Tokyo early this year, underscoring the company’s ambition to expand into one of the world’s largest insurance markets, with individual life and annuity policies exceeding $6 trillion.
Since opening an office in Tokyo in 2015, Brookfield has developed ties with hundreds of major institutional and wealth investors. It further deepened its local presence with growing teams and appointed Tomohide Yokooka as managing director.
LIFTWOMEN bags $1.3m investment
Australia-based female-focused crowdfunding platform LIFTWOMEN has raised $1.3 million, led by Singapore’s VC firm Braxton Capital Ventures.
The round also saw participation from Maggie Zhou (former MD of Alibaba MZ) and Gordon Watson (former chair of AXA Asia). Alice Anderson Fund, a Victorian Government initiative administered by LaunchVic, in supporting Victoria-based women-led tech startups, also backed the startup.
LIFTWOMEN’s founder Irene Tsang said the fresh capital will allow the platform to extend its footprint into Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and China, while scaling the mentorship and investment access program.
Positioned as a leader in closing the gender finance gap, LIFTWOMEN aims to tackle the estimated $1.2 trillion shortfall in financing for women-led ventures across East Asia and the Pacific, providing tools, networks, and funding access for women founders to grow their businesses.
Since its launch, it has hosted more than 360 crowdfunding campaigns, including AI startup OVUM AI.
