Latest News

Qualcomm Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, which has SAP as its sole limited partner, Softbank Corporation and US financial firm SVB Financial were big winners from the floatation of the fitness tracking business last week.

Global Corporate Venturing tracked six direct investments linked to oil and gas corporate venturing units. There was also one undisclosed fund investment by Chevron Technology Ventures, the sponsor of our research, and an exit by Statoil Technology Ventures.

SoftBank took a 20% stake in the Korea-based e-commerce company, as part of a long term strategy that could see it become the world's largest e-commerce player.

Accelerators are increasing their startup impact through corporate backing. The rapid growth in numbers is raising questions of results and sustainability.

Early Stage Report 2015: Investors are open to new and good ideas from anywhere. Raising awareness about entrepreneurship in academia is paramount. Positive trends increasing business orientation, building networks with industry and entrepreneurs as well as co-operation. Challenges remain with expectation discrepancies.

Early Stage Report 2015: Nearly half of corporations look to universities for early-stage ideas. Many of the most innovative corporations look the most globally. Corporations running more accelerators and investing in the startups.

Every year it is a great privilege to pick the shortlist for our awards to the corporate venturing industry.

Founded in Cape Town in 1915, Naspers began as an Afrikaans newspaper publisher but significant expansion, driven by a highly acquisitive business model, has seen the business develop into a multinational group of media and e-commerce platforms with a presence in over 130 countries worldwide and some 19,000 employees.