Nathan Rich, investment director, strategic value, at BP Ventures, is one of our top 50 Rising Stars in corporate venturing for 2025.
It was while working on commercialisation and intellectual property management at BP that Nathan Rich’s path crossed with the ventures group. He found himself frequently helping bridge the gap between the portfolio companies and the larger corporate, and pitched to have that role more formally. Rich now focuses on delivering on the strategic value the startups can bring within the ventures group itself, where he has been since late 2023.
“When a business unit picks up the technology or pilots it or commercially deploys it, I am crafting, telling that story and articulating the quantitative and qualitative value for BP,” he says.
One of the things that makes his job so interesting is that BP has a good balance between portfolio companies whose technologies are viable in the near term and those who are further out and currently in their earlier stages of development. The ability to show the corporate the value that can be brought just around the corner, and the value they can look forward to over the next seven to 10 years, is fascinating.
“It is really important to get the boots on the ground excited about the technology. They have to be really bought into the case”
Those working in a “VC platform” role like this know that it is not always easy to get internal buy in. That is why Rich is continually adding to what BP Ventures calls its “maven network” of internal sponsors who are excited about innovation even if – as is often the case – they did not initially know the venture arm existed.
To be truly successful it is important to get buy-in from the people who will be doing the technical work in the field, says Rich.
“It is really important to get the boots on the ground excited about the technology. The people that are going to be installing the technology and turning the wrenches and testing it. They have to be really bought into the case,” he says.
You also have to be willing to weather the ups and downs and think creatively about how to solve problems and get people interested in novel solutions, while not losing sight of the value that is returned to the wider business.
See the full list of Rising Stars 2025 here.
