The world of innovation is disrupting our daily lives in an exponential speed. Countless startups work hard to create, test, compete and innovate every day. Who feel the most challenged under these circumstances? Corporations, who themselves have started as startups 10 to even 100 years ago and have already made their own venturing journey all the way to the top lists in global rankings. They have finally remembered the ants can move mountains.
Navigating in the world of innovation is not easy for corporations. Though they got cash flow and resources, the environment keeps evolving and new change-making startups pop up so fast that they have forced these business world elephants walk on narrow roads. Smart elephants realise that instead of trying to kill all the ants, they should work together with them.
CVC activity growing faster than ever
The history of corporate venturing tracks back to 1914, when Dupont invested in then 6-year-old automotive startup General Motors. After more than a hundred years, the world of corporate venturing is still on its way to discovery, though it grows faster than ever in history in terms of deal value and volumes. In 2017, the top corporate investors by number of deals were Alphabet (81), SoftBank (58), International Data Group (51), Tencent (50), Intel (42), Salesforce (41), Qualcomm (39), General Electric (37), Johnson&Johnson (33) and Samsung (33) according to Global Corporate Venturing Analytics. And this is only the beginning: SoftBank Vision Fund alone is currently raising a $200B fund, which indicates a phenomenal number of corporate interaction activities with startups in the coming years.
CVCs invitation to cooperate does not limit to startups but extends also to other CVCs. At this year’s Global Corporate Venturing & Innovation Summit in Monterey, CA, about 450 CVCs participated to share their best practices in running the venture arm inside a corporation and working with global startups. Helsinki Business Hub CEO Marja-Liisa Niinikoski also presented CVC activities in Finland and best practices of Helsinki region attracting investment at GCVI’s government track. Did you know Finland fights above its weight in CVC investments? It has Europe’s highest level of venture investment in relation to GDP.
At Helsinki Business Hub, we actively provide deal flows from Finland to more than 70 CVCs globally in various industry fields. So startups, if you feel you are ready to respond to the call of corporate venture capital, reach out to us and we will connect the dots!
Post published originally on Tian’s LinkedIn Pulse.
