Eric Buatois: The “decagon era” and the future of corporate venture capital in AI 

Eric Buatois, general partner at Benhamou Global Ventures (BGV), a Silicon Valley-based venture firm, set out a view of how corporate venture capital (CVC) must evolve in response to the speed and structural impact of artificial intelligence. 

The following points summarise the key themes for corporate venture investors that emerged from his session.

• AI compresses time and raises the bar for ambition 
  • AI-driven startups can now achieve outsized results with very small teams and modest capital. 
  • This accelerates competitive cycles and makes incremental innovation insufficient; CVCs must target 10x–100x outcomes, not marginal gains. 

• The passive CVC model is becoming obsolete
  • Traditional “wait-and-see” minority investing is too slow for AI markets.
  • Corporates risk missing critical inflection points unless they adopt a more proactive, engaged model. 

• CVC should become “AI-native”
  • Just as startups are becoming AI-native, CVC units must redesign their operating model accordingly.
  • This implies new metrics and a shift away from purely financial or loosely defined “strategic” KPIs. 

• From investor to enterprise catalyst
  • CVC should evolve into a strategic utility within the corporation, driving AI adoption across business units. 
  • A central role is to accelerate the transition from pilot projects to enterprise-scale deployment, where many corporates still lag.

• Focus on platforms and workflows, not point solutions
  • Competitive advantage will come from identifying and backing core AI platforms that reshape entire workflows. 
  • “AI wrappers” and co-pilot-style tools are unlikely to deliver durable enterprise value. 

• Autonomous agents will reshape enterprise operations
  • The next wave of value lies in automating industry-specific workflows (e.g., supply chain, procure-to-pay). 
  • CVCs should prioritise investments aligned with these deep, system-level transformations. 

• Incubation becomes a core capability
  • Where no suitable startup exists, corporates should be prepared to build or incubate companies themselves. 
  • This marks a shift from sourcing innovation externally to actively creating it. 

• Portfolio strategy must be more dynamic
  • Not all existing portfolio companies will successfully transition to the AI era.
  • CVCs need to double down aggressively on winners and reallocate capital quickly.

• A three-pillar model for AI-native CVC
  • Innovation: identify genuinely transformative, workflow-level AI solutions.
  • Investment: maintain a portfolio, but with sharper selection and conviction.
  • Incubation: build new ventures where gaps exist.
  • Together, these form a more integrated and interventionist approach than traditional CVC.

• Playbooks and ecosystem insight are emerging differentiators
  • Systematised knowledge (e.g., AI deployment playbooks built from thousands of enterprise use cases) can guide both investment and implementation.
  • Access to such insight may become as important as deal flow in sustaining advantage. 

Bottom line

• The “decagon era” of AI favours speed, scale and decisive action.
• CVCs that remain passive capital providers risk irrelevance.
• Those that become AI-native builders, investors and internal change agents could play a central role in shaping their parent company’s competitive position.

This is an a AI generated summary and lightly edited by GCV staff.