Sectors
The CVC Unplugged podcast is a weekly show that brings you fascinating and wide-ranging conversations with leading corporate venture capital investors, subject matter experts, startup founders, journalists and other market participants to keep you informed of the most important trends affecting early-stage investing. Hosted by Global Corporate Venturing’s Fernando Moncada Rivera, guests dive into strategy, market movements and drivers, best practices, macro trends and much more. New episodes are available every Thursday on your favourite audio platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, or wherever else you get your podcasts.
May 01, 2025
Demand on the power grid is not getting any lower, in fact it’s growing faster than ever, and putting real pressure on the existing infrastructure. As more energy-hungry customers like data centres are coming online, better solutions need to be found to get more capacity through the system.
My guest today is Pradeep Tagare, head of investment at National Grid Partners, the US-based VC arm of National Grid, which is a grid operator active in the UK and the US.
We talk about the challenges facing grid operators at a time when the growth in demand for power is unprecedented, not least because of the phenomenal growth in data centres in the age of AI. We touch on how people are thinking about providing to these large demand customers like data centres, and what solutions exist to increase grid capacity even without a wholescale upgrade of the grid infrastructure itself.
We also talk about the progress being made in the area of distributed energy resources, and how the challenge of interoperability of those diverse energy sources is largely solved, and how AI can be used from anything from finding out where best to place data centres, to figuring out how to best reduce the problem of vegetation overgrowth which can bring networks down, and more.
But first, I speak to Kim Moore about the growth of the space startup ecosystem in Europe.
The post Dealing with an unprecedented demand for power appeared first on CVC Unplugged.
April 24, 2025
The world is becoming, if not a more dangerous place, then perhaps a testier one. Over the past decade or so, we’ve seen an intensifying staccato of cyber attacks against critical infrastructure and other large facilities, which can, of course, bring with it huge financial and operational problems.
It is increasingly not just a problem for individual companies, but for nations as a whole. Private companies may own energy assets, for example, but an attack that disrupts that energy supply is a national security issue.
What we have seen in response to this is a strengthened focus on cybersecurity that focuses on operational technology – the physical realm – not just the digital IT side of the ledger.
More and more investors are looking to back startups that protect not just data and digital systems, but physical systems that people depend on for their daily lives.
Joining me today is Stephen Hurford, who sits in the host seat to ask me about it for a change.
The post Protecting critical infrastructure is big business appeared first on CVC Unplugged.
April 17, 2025
My guest today is Talia Abramowitz, managing partner of Deloitte Ventures, a unit which has made the vast majority of its direct investments in Canadian startups and is well-placed to speak to the feelings within ecosystem. We talk about how startups and investors are thinking of navigating the current uncertainty, and how far along Canada has come in terms of its CVC activity. The unit has also just recently passed its three-year anniversary since founding, so we talk about the challenges of standing up a new CVC, as well as the evolving business of AI, and much more.
The post Canada’s startups navigate the new normal appeared first on CVC Unplugged.
April 10, 2025
It is commonly thought that if you’re dealing with deeptech, that means you’re dealing with long horizons and long timelines to make your money back after an investment, but that is not necessarily the case, according to my guest today.
I speak with Julien Fredonie, who heads up investments in Europe and Africa for Honda Xcelerator Ventures, the corporate VC arm of Japanese auto manufacturer Honda.
The unit looks at deeptech and hardtech across a number of areas including decarbonisation, mobility, robotics and manufacturing, and I wanted to talk to Julien about how he sees CVCs coming along in terms of their ability to help those startups scale up. We talk about how much better suited corporate investors are today to back hard tech companies, relative to one or two decades ago. We also touch on the advantages of investing in the European and African markets, how a new generation of more tech-savvy investors is emerging, the importance of having a founder-focused investment approach, bridging the deeptech funding gap, and more.
But first, I speak to GCV’s Oishani Mitra about how India – one of the largest military forces in the world – is working hard to build its own defence tech ecosystem.
The post How CVCs can help hard-tech startups appeared first on CVC Unplugged.
April 03, 2025
Innovation has long been one of the primary forces shaping power around the world. If your society is innovating, it will be more prosperous, more influential, and more consequential.
In today’s world, we’re seeing some shifts in global power dynamics between democracies and less democratic nations. We’re also seeing traditionally democratic governments on the backslide, losing faith and confidence in the systems that have kept them doing so well for so long.
My guest today is James Mawson, founder and CEO of GCV, who I wanted to talk to about the role that innovation has to play on the grand scale - how open societies are more conducive to innovation, and how innovation can help keep them ahead of their rivals.
The post How innovation can keep democracies ahead appeared first on CVC Unplugged.
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