Socheat Chhay, global head of corporate venture capital for Sopra Steria, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2025.
Socheat Chhay has been in finance for nearly a quarter of a century, starting his career in trading, before moving on to asset manager ETF Securities and co-founding carbon-capture startup Cybel Carbon.
That led to four years at public sector investment bank Bpifrance, where he headed digital transformation and was a mentor at startup accelerator Techstars, before ultimately being appointed head of corporate VC for digital services at software development firm Sopra Steria. That varied experience feeds into what he does today.
“I found that quite natural,” he says. “Being an entrepreneur and an early employer for a unicorn gave me an understanding of the ability of startups, the value proposition and how to scale operations, as well as how to be very empathetic to the founder.
“At the same time, going into a much broader corporate role at the senior level in Bpifrance gave me an understanding of top-down vision – how you shape a corporate company and implement strategic roadmaps with innovations and change management, [all of] which takes more time than at a unicorn.”
“Being an entrepreneur and an early employer for a unicorn gave me an understanding of the ability of startups”
After coming into his role in early 2023, Chhay set up a CVC platform, making seven investments in the first year alone. He is excited about heading into the next generation of AI and quantum computing, where the tech could be used to promote sustainability.
Chhay says his ultimate aim would be to build a partnership with four or five large organisations that can get together to solve some of the most common, and pressing, sustainability issues.
But what does he find most fulfilling about his work right now?
“Providing value to founders,” he says. “Being able to work hand in hand with them to grind out and find if there is anything the corporate has in terms of assets that can be of benefit to them. That is what is most gratifying.”
See the full list of Emerging Leaders 2025 here.
