The Art of Corporate Venture

There were 1,215 corporate-backed startup funding rounds in Q1, the highest quarterly total for two years.

The language may be changing but the opportunities and the returns are still there for impact investors.

Startups backed by corporate investors are less likely to go bust. This pattern holds true even in a tough investment climate.

2025 was supposed to be the year many promising tech companies listed on public markets but volatility may limit IPOs.

Corporate investors have become pivotal players in VC markets around the globe, able to move markets. It’s now time to press our advantage.

From deciding which markets to go into, how many team members to send and whether it is worth taking an LP position in a local VC fund instead, here are six things to think about before opening an overseas office.

Some 37 corporate-backed startups were bought in February in sectors ranging from semiconductors and skincare to pharma and robots.

There were 42 corporate-backed startup funding rounds in China in February, up 27% from the previous month. Most of these were backed by Chinese tech giants such as Tencent and Baidu.

Investor interest in self-driving cars is booming again as commercial services have started operating. These are some of the opportunities that are emerging.

The volume of CVC deals jumped 31% from a year ago, while the return of large deals pushed up the value of funding rounds by 167%.

The number of corporate investors has tripled in the last decade and they are now part of one in every six startup funding rounds.