Sectors
Despite uncertainty in the wider economy, April has seen the most corporate-backed startup funding rounds in more than two years.
Corporate-backed startups exits were at their highest level for over two years in Q1 2025, with large acquisitions spiking the total value.
There were 1,215 corporate-backed startup funding rounds in Q1, the highest quarterly total for two years.
Some 80% of climate impact is about having too much or too little water, yet water makes up just 3% of climate tech investment. There is an opportunity here.
Startups backed by corporate investors are less likely to go bust. This pattern holds true even in a tough investment climate.
Some 37 corporate-backed startups were bought in February in sectors ranging from semiconductors and skincare to pharma and robots.
The volume of CVC deals jumped 31% from a year ago, while the return of large deals pushed up the value of funding rounds by 167%.
Canadian startups are made vulnerable from their reliance on the US for both funding and customers - but Trump's trade war might change that.
The carmaker's InMotion Ventures unit joined a round already featuring Hitachi Ventures, BMW i Ventures and Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund.
Another big tech AI investment has skewed the month's total, but underneath lies strong dealmaking in industrial startups and growth in Japan.
Multi-billion dollar funding rounds for OpenAI and Waymo lifted the dollar value of CVC-backed rounds to levels last seen in 2022. But there's an underlying rise in deal numbers, too.
Half of all of the energy startups raising money from corporate investors in 2024 tapped up companies outside the energy sector.
Japan is second only to the US when it comes to spacetech startups raising funding from the corporate sector.
Naver’s accelerator arm backed two US startups last month, Claythis and YesPlz, and will continue to seek out opportunities in North America.
UK smartphone camera component developer Cambridge Mechatronics’ latest round featured strategic investors Sony Ventures and Intel Capital.
Corporate investors have been part of $3bn worth of AI deals so far this year, with June particularly strong. There has also been a uptick in exits.
Corporates continued to invest in real estate tech through 2022, unlike their traditional VC peers. We look at how this might play out.
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