Sony Innovation Fund’s Antonio Avitabile, LG Technology Ventures’ Dong-Su Kim and UCB Ventures’ Erica Whittaker spoke about building a business strategy that adds value to a CVC’s portfolio.

Mark Geday, a partner at law firm Morgan Lewis, moderated a session featuring Antonio Avitabile, a managing director at Sony Innovation Fund (SIF); Erica Whittaker, vice-president and head of UCB Ventures; and Dong-Su Kim, CEO of LG Technology Ventures (LTV).

The panellists shared insights and advice on how to build a successful business strategy that adds value to a corporate venture capital (CVC) group’s portfolio.

“One of the advantages of being a CVC is the possibility to leverage a strong and widespread international network that can be extremely useful to boost and accelerate the expansion of startups around the world,” said Avitabile from SIF, a vehicle for Japan-headquartered consumer electronics producer Sony.

“Furthermore, we bring an investment partner sitting on the board that broadens our companies’ investment views, helping startups develop locally and internationally, overcome management changes and achieve smooth ownership transitions while improving and optimising KPIs (key performance indicators).”

Kim, who oversees LTV, an investment arm of South Korea-listed electronics manufacturer LG, added: “It is essential to provide portfolio companies with validation, support and added value to their business strategy. There can be conflicts, culture differences and concerns, especially because startups are often agile and move fast while CVCs need to take into consideration a wide array of factors, including the relationships with their main business units. However, sophisticated CVCs are able to support portfolio companies without restricting their strategy, while expanding their horizons and helping their businesses grow.”

Whittaker from UCB Ventures, Belgium-based biopharmaceutical company UCB’s CVC unit, said: “CVCs tend to have a longer and wider view than other types of investors and a much deeper knowledge of the sector key trends and the mechanics of how a company can be guided towards success. Moreover, we have built a team of people with different backgrounds and having all this expertise around the table really helps to add value and develop an effective business strategy.”