Why the best CVCs are redesigning themselves

How do you turn corporate innovation from an occasional activity into a well-used muscle? In other words, how do you bake venture into the company rather than treating it as a periodic response to the latest technology wave? 

More than how to find the next big investment opportunity, this is the question many corporate investors in the GCV community are wrestling with. Finding great startups is, of course, fundamental—and for many investors, working alongside ambitious founders is the most rewarding part of the job. 

But that, in itself, is just venture capital. The distinctive challenge of corporate venturing is using those investments to change the corporation itself. 

That theme came through strongly in two interviews we published last week. 

Takeshi Kodama, head of JERA Ventures, explained how Japan’s largest power producer has repositioned its venture arm to engage with startups much earlier in their development. The goal is not simply to bolt on technologies once they have matured, but to help shape them from the outset—and, in doing so, influence JERA’s own strategic direction. Achieving that meant changing the organisation as much as the investment strategy. One of Kodama’s first moves was to redesign the investment steering committee around a streamlined five-member majority vote and one-hour meetings, recognising that governance has to move at venture speed too. 

Stefan Gabriel, chief executive of Hitachi Ventures, told a similar story from a different angle. Over seven years he has grown the fund to $1bn while building strong links into Hitachi’s senior leadership. Alongside the investment team, he established an advisory board and strategy councils that bring startup founders directly into conversations with business executives, helping turn venture investments into new products, services and business models. 

One thing that has struck me over the past year is how much the conversation has shifted. A few years ago, interviews tended to focus on fund sizes, investment sectors and financial returns. Increasingly, they are about governance, organisational design, AI tools, internal partnerships and the practical mechanics of helping large companies innovate more effectively. 

Venture building is an increasingly important part of that picture. It is a different discipline from corporate venture capital, but many companies are now using both: investing in external startups while also creating new ventures from internal technologies, ideas and capabilities. The interesting question is no longer whether organisations should do one or the other, but how the two approaches can reinforce each other. 

That’s exactly what we’ll be exploring in our upcoming webinar, How venture builders and CVCs can collaborate to maximise impact on August 19. If you’re involved in either discipline, I hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a lively discussion with some great speakers including Axel Deniz of Bosch Business Innovations, Jim Adler of Toyota Ventures and Ralph Wilson of Arup Ventures. Register here to secure your free place, and to ensure you receive the summary and video replay in your inbox.  

We’re also asking practitioners to take part in this year’s GCV Venture Building Survey. It takes around 15 minutes to complete, and everyone who participates will receive an early, complimentary copy of the benchmarking report. The more organisations that contribute, the clearer a picture we’ll build of how venture building is evolving—and where best practice is emerging. Take the survey here.  

Thank you all again for the contributions and insights, which help increase the collective knowledge base!

This editor’s note was first published in GCV’s Blueprint newsletter, which tracks corporate venture news, key deals, new funds best practice and jobs.

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