Venture Capital Journal sits down with Ben Luckett, who set up Aviva’s VC platform in July 2015 and has led it since then as managing director of venture and strategic capital.

UK insurance group Aviva has been investing in venture capital for over adecade, for most of that time using the corporate balance sheet, but this year it launched Aviva Investors Venture & Growth Capital LTAF, a long-term asset fund. That involved shifting the eight-strong venture investment team into Aviva Investors, the group’s asset management unit, which now runs a total of £480 million ($640 million; €553 million) across the two portfolios.

A 20-year Aviva veteran, Ben Luckett set up the VC platform in July 2015 and has led it since then as managing director of venture and strategic capital.

The LTAF allocation is 30 percent via external GPs and 70 percent in direct investments – in contrast to the corporate venture mandate, which invests more indirectly but also does direct deals.

Seeded with £150 million from Aviva and open to third-party capital, the LTAF expects to reach a target of £500 million over the next three years. The firm is optimistic about more pension capital coming into the VC space thanks to the UK’s Mansion House Accord, Luckett tells Venture Capital Journal.

It aims to employ the team’s direct investment experience and sees opportunities in UK venture, particularly at the growth stage, where fewer funds are active, he adds.

The direct investments will be into Series B rounds and beyond, while the indirect portion will allocate to funds all the way from seed to growth stage, and “is about diversification and access to deal flow and expertise,” Luckett says.

Examples of these fund allocations include Aviva Investors’ partnerships with university spinout funds Cambridge Innovation Capital (CIC) and Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE). CIC and OSE are both looking at earlier-stage opportunities, and OSE particularly invests from pre-seed.

Read on for the full interview with Luckett about the platform’s expansion plans, how it invests in funds and direct deals, the implications of US uncertainty for its strategy, how it applies Aviva’s responsible investment approach – and more.