US And Canada

Makowka will manage relationships with AHA Ventures portfolio companies.

From Northvolt’s staggering $14bn failure to crypto crashes and biotech struggles, 2024 has been a brutal year for corporate-backed startups facing financial, operational, and market pressures.

Large life sciences deals and corporate investors buying the companies in their own portfolio have been key to an improving exit market.

Many of the companies have financial and corporate venture backers, as businesses seek alternatives to single-use plastics.

The Nato Innovation Fund has made a dozen investments in dual-use technologies that are already deployed in areas of conflict and with allies' armed forces.

With the launch of its new fund, the Japanese insurer's corporate venturing unit has assets under management of $400m, up tenfold since its first fund.

Ten corporate investors were part of a $380m series C round this week, including Fortescue, United Airlines, Rio Tinto, Amazon, Microsoft and BP.

The US's $369bn climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), promises to put the US at the forefront of the clean energy transition, but the act has its limitations.

Adam Bazih, head of Stellantis Ventures, says we're heading for a golden age of mobility tech as sustainable vehicles become affordable.

David Garcia, head of National Basketball Association team the Atlanta Hawks' venture fund, is targeting consumer experience ventures rather than sports technology.