SoftBank is winding down corporate venturing vehicle SoftBank Capital in favour of fewer, bigger investments as it looks to replicate its Alibaba investment.

Intel Capital fell short of the $600m target it set in September but will enter 2016 under new leadership with some promising IPO candidates.

Google restructured itself under a holding company called Alphabet, but its corporate venturing units continued to invest heavily in healthcare despite GV pulling the plug on its European fund.

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.

The huge initial public offerings of Alibaba and Rocket Internet capped a hugely busy period for the consumer sector.

With the slow recovery from the financial crisis and divestiture strategies undertaken by some big players, 2014 was marked by numerous exits by corporate investors in the industrials sector.

Global Corporate Venturing takes its annual look at the services sector.

A heady year in corporate venturing has drawn to a close, which means it is time to look back at the biggest investment trends of 2014 and forward to those likely to carry into 2015.