Industrial

Although the 17 investors in the latest $15m round were undisclosed, in October 2010 BASF Venture Capital, the corporate venturing unit of Germany-based chemical conglomerate BASF, led a $21.5m investment in Aspen Aerogels as a new investor.

NanoHoldings' network of universities and scientists, most of them with physics backgrounds, means other innovations that show promise could be further developed outside of the company and eventually co-financed through DSM Venturing or possibly acquired by DSM.

Smartblue received seed financing to monitor photovoltaic systems while HTGF, state fund Bayern Kapital and angel investor Dieter Manstein invested in GME Medical Engineering.

David Colclough has joined as an investment director of the Business Growth Fund while Neil Inskip is an investment manager, with both based in the Manchester office run by regional director Andy Gregory.

Portfolio company leaders gather in London from the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company's corporate venturing unit.

Corporate venturing dealmaking is on track to return to pre-credit crunch levels this year.

Research by Global Corporate Venturing and US trade body the National Venture Capital Association gives some insights into career development prospects in the sector.

A record number of corporate venturing funds have been raised this year.

Welcome to the Global Corporate Venturing analysis of 2011, where we pick out the biggest themes as decided by the people who count - the corporate venturing heads and those in the related ecosystem.

The company was currently talking with other venture capital firms to pursue joint investment opportunities, allowing it to participate in bigger deals.

The Spain-based phone operator is now tapped into the most important dealflow in technology around the world, after moving into Israel and Silicon Valley.