As the corporate venturing industry matures there are a growing number of poster children for its success. In this, our third annual awards, we have selected a group of companies and investment professionals which should be congratulated for excellence.
The many winners and candidates for the awards have demonstrated how they have a sophisticated outlook to investment and entrepreneurial endeavour, for which they should be praised.
There is much that can be learned from all those featured in this supplement.
The number of corporate venturing groups globally has grown to approaching 1000 units, according to our research, and the best of these units are now some of the most relevant participants in the the venture capital world.
It has been a great pleasure researching their success, enabled by the support of our sponsors, and I hope you enjoy reading about our reasons for their selection.
The successes of some are truly staggering – click here for the full supplement.
Awards categories
The winners were picked by editorial selection with the help of our advisory board. Many thanks for their help.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Charles Searle, Naspers’ MIH.
Few investment professionals globally can rival the successes of Charles Searle, chief executive of MIH, the corporate venturing unit of South
Africa-based media group Naspers.
Personality of the Year: Tony Askew, Reed Elsevier Ventures.
As the chairman of the newly created corporate venturing group of UK trade body the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA), Askew has been thrust centre stage in promoting corporate venturing in the UK, while Reed has been enjoying strong investment success.
Unit of the Year: Intel Capital, which last year demonstrated its durability as a dealmaking machine, even as Intel’s core market personal computing undergoes one of the biggest shifts in the competitive landscape in 20 years with the move towards smart phones and tablets, at the same time as the chipmaker’s chief executive Paul Otellini is stepping down.
Fundraising of the Year: Telefónica’s Amérigo.
This corporate venturing unit was highly creative in leveraging external capital to put the €300m ($390m) fund together, managing to increase its firepower nearly five-fold by partnering governments and the private sector.
New entrant of the Year: Nielsen was deserving of the award as probably the “biggest legitimate fundraiser” among newcomers, for actually raising funds from third parties. Most corporates generally start their units with balance sheet money, which is easier to do.
Exit of the Year: Buddy Media’s sale to Salesforce for $745m won as the largest exit so far for corporate venturing backer WPP Digital,
IPO of the Year: The Facebook IPO, despite controversy after poor aftermarket performance and problems with the listing, still deserves to be singled out for praise as the corporate backers of the IPO deserve recognition for securing shares in the company before it had become clear how valuable the company would become, while the company equally deserves celebrating for transforming from a Harvard University dorm room start-up to one of the biggest technology companies globally.
Large investment of the Year: The $200m round for Square, which saw an ambitious strategic tie-up with US-based coffee chain Starbucks and also saw participation from financial corporate venturing heavyweight Citi Ventures.
Sub-$50m Investment of the Year: NanoH20, for securing cross-sectoral backing from what appear to be the first corporates to enter the deal.