The Global Corporate Venturing Survey 2026

North America remains the primary source of entrepreneurial talent for most CVCs, followed closely by Europe. Asia-Pacific and Latin America continue to attract growing attention, while interest in the Middle East is emerging.

Sector focus reflects areas where corporates can add differentiated value, including IT and AI, energy, mobility, industrials and fintech. Early-stage investing dominates: 95% of respondents target series A or B, with selective exposure to seed and growth rounds depending on fund size and regional context.

Down from 64% in 2024, 61% of survey respondents are active investors with 39% looking to make four to six new investments per year. But 22% plan to make more than 7 investments, down from the 28% reported in 2025. Most active are resilient programs (38%), Asia-Pacific CVCs (34%) and North American CVCs (30%) targeting more than 7 new investments in 2026.

For the vast majority of CVCs, personal networking at events and via CVC, VC LP positions/networks, accelerator and service provider connections represent the top sources of quality deal flow. 66% employ data-driven tools such as PitchBook, CB Insights, and Harmonic for ecosystem mapping and sourcing. 61% rely on ‘cold’ inbound contacts from startups.

The sweet spot for the overwhelming majority (95%) is early stage (series A or series B). Slightly fewer respondents — 52% this year compared with 53% last year — will also invest in seed stage or pre-revenue funding rounds. Some 40% will invest in growth stage/series C funding rounds, no change from 2025. Latin American CVCs (74%) with smaller funds and new CVC programmes (63%) are most likely to invest in seed deals, and Asia-Pacific CVCs (40%) are least likely to invest in seed deals.

More than half of CVCs are now equally comfortable leading or following rounds, reflecting increased professional confidence. Nevertheless, many still prefer to follow institutional VC leads. Capital allocation discipline remains mixed, with just over half reserving meaningful capital for follow-on investments.

Strategic LP investing is no longer viewed as passive. Over half of respondents now hold LP positions in external funds to access specialist expertise, new geographies and earlier-stage innovation. Larger and more mature programmes are especially active, often holding stakes in multiple funds. 35% of these firms allocate more than 20% of CVC capital to indirect investments.

Of those with LP stakes, 61% (up from 41% in 2025) have invested in more than three funds, with 35% (up from 23% in 2025) holding three to five LP positions. The percentage with LP stakes is even higher (61%) for large, expansion stage programmes, and 80% of these units hold LP positions in more than three funds.

Corporations increasingly seek to extract strategic value from these relationships through standing review meetings with GPs and access to co-investment opportunities, 18% of all CVCs and 27% of APAC CVCs will second corporate personal to learn from GPs in person. A small but growing number of CVCs also have programmes to curate and second specialist corporate resources to advise portfolio companies.