Bruno Arcadier, head of Vale Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
For Bruno Arcadier, head of Vale Ventures, leadership as a corporate VC unit chief is all about creating trust, both internally and externally. “It is about being meritocratic and giving visibility not only for the people of the CVC, but also to the people of the business units that are key for this endeavour,” he says.
The unit is relatively young, having been formally launched in 2022. Arcadier was involved, he says, since “day minus-one”, when the corporate was exploring options and tools for innovation before eventually deciding it needed to set up a venturing unit. He took over as unit head in early 2023.
Being a young unit does not mean having a small impact. One of the biggest achievements Vale Ventures has had so far, he says, is the depth of the relationship the unit has been able to develop with internal business units.
Being able to connect with startups two or three years before they would have otherwise known them, this brings a change in culture
“[We are] bringing to the business units, especially to the R&D centres, a lot of different points of view that they were not used to. Being able to connect with startups two or three years before they would have otherwise known them, this brings a change in culture – not only new opportunities for collaboration, but more generally thinking outside the box.”
His favourite part of the job is talking to people on the cutting edge of what is being developed and learning from them. Learning is the key part in seeing the potential impact they could have for the business and for society as a whole.
Arcadier is excited to see developments in areas such as circular mining – the huge potential impact that can be had from reusing what has always been waste byproduct of mining activities – as well as how AI technology can be leveraged to keep people safe on site.
Something that all up-and-coming CVC investors should always think about is the “why”. Everyone always spends a lot of time on the complexities of the “how”, sometimes to the detriment of the sense of their north star and mandate, says Arcadier.
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
