Peter Vanlaeke, partner at Syensqo Ventures, is one of our top 50 Emerging Leaders in corporate venturing for 2025.
Peter Vanlaeke says he loves working with entrepreneurs. Having worked at a solar energy startup himself before becoming an investor, he knows how hard it is and revels in being in the trenches with ambitious people trying to create something and helping them realise their dreams.
“What I love is going on that journey with them to start from an idea all the way to hopefully a big business, with all the ups and downs that go with it,” he says. “If they have a big win, it is fantastic. If things are going badly, I feel it as well.”
Syensqo Ventures – formerly Solvay Ventures – backs startups across a range of areas related to advanced materials, electrification and sustainability, making it a natural home for an investor with advanced degrees in chemistry, biotechnology and semiconductor physics.
“What I love is going on that journey with them to start from an idea all the way to hopefully a big business, with all the ups and downs that go with it”
“Peter has been delivering great value for the group and our venturing team. On the venture side, he has brought to the team top-notch VC deals and has been supporting them brilliantly, guiding some of them through difficult times. I have seen this first hand, as I am a board observer alongside him,” says Thomas Sayan, senior associate at Syensqo Ventures.
Investing in startups is a cyclical game – one for which patience is crucial, says Vanlaeke. “It is generally a sector where people are impatient, but you have to have patience. You have to have the conviction that even if things are not going well today, that tomorrow they will get better again.”
Newcomers to corporate VC should know that it is not a traditional role for someone who works in a corporate, but an incredibly fulfilling one if you put in the work.
“It is a bit outside of the traditional trajectory of people in big corporates, but if you are willing to learn, it is an amazing activity to be part of. There is obviously a learning curve and you have to be willing to take the steps and to learn gradually,” he says.
See the full list of Emerging Leaders 2025 here.
