The Art of Corporate Venture

There was a record number of first-time corporate investors in the first half of the year despite corporate venturing activity being down across deals, exits and funds.

Mastercard will buy financial data technology provider Finicity in a deal that could reach $985m, giving Experian an exit. This is yet another large exits in this space this year after the acquisitions of Plaid and Credit Karma earlier.

One vaccine developer, CureVac, has received a generous backing from Germany’s government-owned development bank KfW, while another – Vaxcyte – went public raising $250m.

The demographic phenomenon of ageing populations will present challenges to both developed and developing nations. Along with the challenges come opportunities, however, and corporate venture capitalists may be a particularly well-positioned group to help with them, as it is the connecting tissue between the world of incumbent corporate industry leaders and the space of disruptive innovation.

Monthly data: May

Innovative region: Singapore

With campuses shuttered in the pandemic, society needs to find solutions quickly to continue education and avoid a lost generation of skilled workers.

Sector analysis: Health & life sciences

Global Corporate Venturing ran a short survey of corporate venture capital investors on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in April.

Global Corporate Venturing hosted its first virtual conference, GCV Digital Forum, on June 3 and 4 with a special networking space and ideas challenge.

GenScript Biotech's spinoff Legend Biotech, which counts Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson as backers, floated in the US.