Once viewed as an investment function, CVC is increasingly reliant on operational leadership. Toyota Ventures’ Natalie Fonseca Licciardi explains how firms can scale without sacrificing the speed and flexibility that founders expect.
For much of corporate VC's history, investors have been the centre of attention: the partners sourcing deals, backing founders and shaping portfolio strategy. But a different challenge has emerged with the evolution of CVC units into increasingly sophisticated investment organisations.
Success today is not only dependent on identifying promising startups, but also on building the operational infrastructure needed to support larger funds, more complex portfolios and deeper engagement with both founders and corporate stakeholders.
That shift is changing leadership structures across the industry.
As venture platforms expand, responsibilities spanning finance, governance, portfolio support, corporate engagement, communications and talent management have become strategically important rather than merely administrative. The challenge is particularly acute for CVC firms which must combine the speed and autonomy expected by entrepreneurs with the processes, accountability and stakeholder management required within large global corporations.
Toyota Ventures is an example of this evolution. Since its launch in 2017, the firm has grown from a single $100m fund into a platform managing over $800m in assets across six funds, investing in technologies ranging from artificial intelligence and robotics to climate solutions, space and advanced materials. That growth has brought greater scale, but also greater organisational complexity. Maintaining agility while building the systems necessary to support more than 100 portfolio companies requires a level of operational discipline that is increasingly central to the venture model.
For Natalie Fonseca Licciardi (pictured below), managing partner and COO at Toyota Ventures, the rise of operational leadership reflects the maturation of the sector itself. Having joined the firm as part of its founding team, she has seen first-hand how the demands of managing a venture organisation change as it grows.
Fonseca Licciardi believes that the firms best positioned to succeed over the long term will be those that recognise venture capital is not simply a dealmaking business. It is also an exercise in organisational design — creating the culture, processes and internal relationships that allow investment teams to move quickly while delivering sustained strategic and financial value.
What does a typical week as COO at Toyota Ventures look like?
One of the things I enjoy most about working at Toyota Ventures is that there really isn’t a “typical” week.
It’s an incredibly fast-paced and dynamic environment, which is something I’ve always gravitated toward, having spent most of my career at startups and running my own business. In fact, one of our core principles at Toyota Ventures is that speed matters. We move quickly because the founders we invest in need us to.
Often, our investment team is getting into highly competitive deals where we need to act fast, and a big part of my role is ensuring that the operational side of the business scales and moves at the same pace as the opportunities in front of us.
Most days begin with triaging priorities and determining where I can have the greatest impact. My responsibilities span finance, portfolio engagement, marketing and communications, and I also serve on our investment committees, so I spend a fair amount of time shifting between those areas. There are usually several special projects underway as well. For instance, our team is currently looking at ways to improve our use of AI.
And there’s email – lots of email.
Oishani Mitra
Oishani Mitra is the content manager for Global Corporate Venturing.
