From tracking commercial partnerships with startups to providing VC-style compensation, here is what long-lived CVCs have in common.
Corporate venture is having a moment. 2025 was a record year for CVCs. Even at the height of the 2020-2021 boom years of venture capital investing, there were not as many corporate venturing units actively investing in startups as there were last year. More than 3,000 corporations globally made at least one minority investment in a startup in the past year, according to GCV’s Keystone survey data.
Launching a corporate venturing unit is one thing but keeping it going beyond the first three years is a much bigger feat. Corporate venturers have a bad reputation for fickleness: They can be shut down by higher-ups at the parent corporation on the turn of a dime, leaving portfolio companies in the lurch and accruing a less than stellar standing as unreliable investors.
So, what characteristics do the most successful CVCs share that increase their odds of longevity? GCV’s annual Keystone benchmarking survey of corporate venturers globally provides insights into the best practices of the most resilient CVCs.
“The best CVCs tend to be those that are both strategically relevant and financially accountable,” said Liz Arrington, managing director of the GCV Institute, in the Next Wave webinar Lessons from a record year: What the data tells us about CVC success factors.
Increasingly, this means CVCs investing in all three horizons of growth – both in ventures that are close to the core of the parent as well as in technologies likely to generate profits in the future, often in new business lines. CVCs are also doing this is several different ways, not just by taking minority equity stakes in startups.
Here is a summary of some of the characteristics that resilient CVCs – those that survive beyond three years – have in common, as shown in data presented in GCV’s 2026 World of Corporate Venturing report.
1. Successful CVCs build connections between the portfolio and parent
With 52% of CVC survey respondents aiming to achieve VC-style financial returns, portfolio strategy and management have become more sophisticated. Forty-two percent of CVCs have so-called platform or business development teams that connect the portfolio companies to the parent corporation, which often lead to commercial agreements.
Most CVCs with more than $300m of assets under management employ either a dedicated chief operating officer, chief financial officer or dedicated senior portfolio manager. “We think this is really a sign of the professionalisation of the portfolio management function” says Arrington.
2. Long-lasting CVCs track and communicate the value of their investments
Proving the strategic value of corporate venturing is the raison d’etre for most CVCs. Successful ones define, track and communicate their performance and impact on the corporate. Communicating insights and providing advice gleaned from venturing remain the biggest strategic value that CVCs bring.
Successful CVC teams communicate their value in executive-level and business unit strategy sessions by sharing numbers as well as stories about successes from commercial partnerships with startups. Forty-five percent of survey respondents seek to have at least 50% of their portfolio companies having a commercial engagement with the parent company. This should be measured and tracked for things such as revenues, savings, risk reduction or the value of sales to the parent or the business unit.
“The narrative around the story can be very much as important as the actual numbers,” said Arrington.
TDK Ventures employs what it calls an “engagement checkerboard” which shows in a single, colour-coded graphic all the engagements between its portfolio companies and the parent.
“Every quarter we update it. We started seeing the colours changing, and we can see the progress or lack of progress. That gives us a very good visual element to all these engagements we are doing,” said Nicolas Sauvage, president of TDK Ventures, who participated in the webinar.
3. Venture clienting is taking off as an established practice
Almost half (49%) of CVCs practice venture clienting, whereby teams focus on becoming customers of startups without taking minority equity stakes. This approach does not require a large team and can be a cheaper alternative to investing.
Venture clienting partnerships tend to be with more mature, later stage startups compared with the earlier stage emphasis in many CVC portfolios.
4. Building ventures is also part of the mix
Thirty-two percent of CVC survey respondents create their own internal startups as part of their corporate innovation strategies. Venture building is becoming a more integral part of corporate innovation, but there are sector and regional differences. Corporates in the built world, energy and healthcare are more likely to operate venture building units, particularly in Europe and Latin America. It is less common in North America, where 20% of CVCs have a venture building component.
5. Buying and selling stakes in the secondary market is a growing strategy
One quarter of CVCs tap the secondary market as part of their portfolio management. Teams are either selling highly valued later stage investments to generate returns for investors, or they are using the secondary market to free up capital from assets that are no longer strategic.
The secondary market also offers a place to buy stakes in startups that CVCs may have missed out on in primary fundraising rounds.
6. Fund-of-fund investing is also part of the norm
Taking a limited partner position in a fund was once viewed as a passive investment strategy. Nowadays, 53% of CVCs manage fund-of-fund investments, which widen the pool of investments that CVCs can make as well as helping them meet expectations of returns.
7. Successful CVCs offer VC-style compensation to retain talent
Corporate venture teams increasingly offer financial incentives that mimic what financial venture capital firms provide to their staff. A quarter of CVCs provide synthetic carry bonus programmes on top of standard bonuses. This is a growing trend as five years ago, the percentage of CVCs doing this hovered between 11% and 13%.
It is a more widespread practice at independent CVC funds with a general partner and limited partner structure. At these funds, 60% offer carry-like compensation, providing a share of the profits that team members receive depending on the fund achieving a return on investment threshold.
This kind of compensation package is increasingly relevant as competition for talent intensifies. Two-thirds of corporate venturing teams recruit investors from institutional VCs and other CVCs. This increases to 75% for some of the larger, more mature CVCs.
It is important to make synthetic carry available to every team member not just the investors in the CVC, said Sauvage. “It is not just fair, it makes sense. You want everyone to be driven by the success of the portfolio.”
Watch the full webinar replay below:
This webinar is part of GCV’s The Next Wave series of webinars. We run a webinar every month, alternating between advice for CVC practitioners and deep dives into specific investment areas. Details of past and upcoming webinars here.
