Comment by James Mawson, editor-in-chief, Global Corporate Venturing, Stefan Gabriel, CEO, Hitachi Ventures, Kenichi Funaki, deputy general manager for the corporate venturing office, Hitachi
Alongside other market changes wrought by the rapid advance of digitalisation, recent years have also seen a growth of interest in corporate venturing, in which large companies offer support and collaboration to external startups as a means of fostering open innovation. James Mawson, who presides over Global Corporate Venturing, a data provider in the corporate venture capital industry and publisher of digital magazines, makes the point that investment by large corporations in startups has grown rapidly over the past decade, with investments totaling around $129bn in more than 3,000 such companies during 2020 alone. Another recent trend has been that many of these corporations are going beyond simple investment, instead seeking strategic opportunities through collaboration.
Hitachi Ventures was established in 2019 to serve as the strategic CVC arm of Hitachi, with offices in Munich and Boston. It has been investing in startup companies, primarily in Europe, Israel and North America, operating…
