It is always interesting to see more organisations with corporate links getting involved in venture investing. Last week, the latest entrant to early stage investing was UK-based public-private partnership Energy Technologies Institute, which made its first equity investment in a private company by backing UK-based energy storage business Isentropic with £14m ($22m). The Energy Technologies… Continue reading The Big Deal: Isentropric meets ETI
Category: Analysis
Corporates hold their nerve
In a difficult month for global markets, with big slides and volatility in equity markets as concerns grow around the eurozone crisis, corporate venturing groups are confident. Global Corporate Venturing tracked 67 investments worth $1.39bn in May. This was down against the 83 worth $1.46bn in April and the 80 in May last year worth… Continue reading Corporates hold their nerve
Arabs aim for a richer ecosystem
Islam’s 500-year golden age of art, science, medicine and philsophy until the sack of Baghdad in the 13th century was built on a merchant economy of trade links between Africa, Asia and Europe.
Gaule’s Question Time: Dominique Mégret, Swisscom
Gaule: Give a brief description of the purpose of your venture, when it was formed and how the process occurs in your organisation. Mégret: Swisscom Ventures was formed in 2006 to strengthen Swisscom’s innovation ecosystem. We already had an outpost in Silicon Valley [California, US] back then, but we felt we needed to develop our… Continue reading Gaule’s Question Time: Dominique Mégret, Swisscom
Profile: Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation
Johnson & Johnson’s unbroken history of taking minority equity stakes in third-party entrepreneurs marks it as one of the oldest and most consistent investors in corporate venturing, writes James Mawson
Some healthy opportunities
Healthcare might be undergoing some macro-challenges as governments worry about how they will pay for people’s health in their old age, but it is also throwing up opportunities for non-traditional providers to enter the wellness sector. Consumer goods companies, such as Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Unilever, are looking at how their products might be used to… Continue reading Some healthy opportunities
Healthcare 2012: Well-being defines a growing sector
Healthcare corporations are filling a void left by retreating venture capital firms in their sector.
Symposium 2012: Fundraising Trends panel
Panel on why firms are raising so many funds, and so many are outside of the US? Stephen Ziff from Coller Capital moderated the panel.
Symposium 2012: Future Leaders panel
Panel on the next generation of corporate venturing leaders, moderated by Neil Foster from Baker Botts.
Symposium 2012: Justin Adams, ex-BP
Justin Adams, ex-head of Emerging Business and Ventures at BP, reflects on corporate venturing and its future models.
Symposium 2012: Global and Sector panel
Panel on how can firms deal with a globally-distributed, cross-sectoral innovation landscape, moderated by Andrew Gaule from Corven.
Symposium 2012: Government panel
Panel on the role of governments to help the ecosystem, moderated by Erik Vermeulen from Philips and Tilburg University Law School.
Symposium 2012: Venture connectivity panel
Global Corporate Venturing Panel Discussion on Venture Connectivity, moderated by Erik Sebusch from CMEA Capital.
The Big Deal: Nanosolar/Konarka
As the founder of one of the firms that has just been backed said: “My theory is that any company able to hold out to 2014 will be a winner.”