Lars Roessler, head of corporate venturing at BSH Startup Kitchen, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2025 Powerlist.
When Lars Roessler joined BSH Home Appliances in 2018, he was tasked with building something revolutionary: a venture clienting unit that would transform how the company approached innovation and create immediate business impact.
Roessler did not want to set up a standard corporate VC. He had built and run a CVC previously and felt the model to be broken when it comes to creating immediate impact. What emerged was BSH Startup Kitchen, a venture clienting unit that fundamentally changed how BSH adopts new startup technologies.
Unlike corporate venturing units, BSH Startup Kitchen does not take equity in startups, but engages with them as a customer at an early stage, testing to see if their technologies could solve real business challenges for BSH. This approach allows a company to validate-test different solutions faster and more cost-effectively than would be possible using a venture investment approach.
In six years, the team has run more than 130 projects, of which 20% have gone on to build a bigger commercial relationship at scale with the company. Venture clienting does not eliminate all risk, with some pilot projects failing, but the financial outlay is much lower than making an investment in a startup and the financial returns can be substantial.
In six years, the team has run more than 130 projects, of which 20% have gone on to build a bigger commercial relationship at scale with the company
“Our out-of-pocket return is 7x, but beyond the financial return, we also actively support the transformation of the whole company,” says Roessler.
Two standout successes illustrate the unit’s impact. Synthesia, an AI platform which creates videos narrated by avatars, started with a small marketing pilot, but quickly expanded across the organisation. “Now it is being used everywhere,” says Roessler. “From compliance training, HR performance reviews, it has really changed the way we work.”
Another notable project is HeyGen, a content localisation startup that revolutionised how BSH creates multilingual marketing materials.
Roessler left BSH Startup Kitchen at the end of May to pursue new projects, but leaves behind a well-established and robust unit of six that can continue to effectively run innovation projects for the company.
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100 individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
