Companies increase amounts and role in entrepreneurial investment syndicates and new and existing units prepare for further growth.

A decade after the dot.com bubble reached its peak and started to implode, this year corporate venturing has returned to its highest levels since the turn of the millennium.

And, unlike the period up to the end of 2001, when corporations increased their pace of investment at the close of the economic cycle, the end of the latest recession and start of a new period of growth has seen chief executives invest in venturing and innovation more broadly to find…