June issue editorial by James Mawson, editor-in-chief
Category: Comment
Editorial: Japan and the world’s animal spirits start to soar
It feels seismic to see the recent flotation of flea market app operator Mercari and e-commerce company Rakuten’s acquisition of its US-based peer Curbside are for the Japanese innovation capital ecosystem. It also reflects the wider catch-up by M&A and public markets to the burgeoning prices paid in private capital markets, validating those later-stage investors who… Continue reading Editorial: Japan and the world’s animal spirits start to soar
Big Deal: Ant’s crawl to $14bn round signals bipolar world
There is an unbelievable-if-it-wasn’t-true chart in Mary Meeker’s annual internet trends presentation showing China mobile payments volume growing 209% year-on-year to almost $16 trillion by the end of last year. The near-doubling in growth rates – not volume – has seen two clear winners in the world’s most advanced and largest mobile fintech market: Tencent’s… Continue reading Big Deal: Ant’s crawl to $14bn round signals bipolar world
Editorial: Venture’s innovation challenge
The European Commission has today released its draft budget for its next financial period to start after 2020 with its draft plans for about $100bn for innovation funding (nice analysis by Science Business here). Next week I am due to give a short talk in Sofia, Bulgaria, which is currently president of the European Union’s council,… Continue reading Editorial: Venture’s innovation challenge
Editorial: Artificial intelligence’s special impact
Artificial intelligence (AI) is predicted to be the next disruptive wave in media and society more generally. MIT professor Max Tegmark’s latest book, Life 3.0, gives a nice hypothesis that the first indication artificial general intelligence (AGI) has happened will occur in media as it offers the best influence/financial returns equation to help the AGI… Continue reading Editorial: Artificial intelligence’s special impact
Caruso channels media’s future
Speaking at the GCV Symposium, Scott Caruso, director of strategic ventures at UpRamp, said that latency, infrastructure and content will be key VC drivers for the media sector.
GCV Symposium Day Two: The morning session
The morning of the second day covered university venturing, intellectual property in healthcare, and the potential in Africa and India.
GCV Symposium Day Two: The future of media
The second day of the event featured a round table on the media industry, carried out under Chatham House rules to encourage free discussion.
GCV Symposium Day Two: Data shows CVC deal value outpacing volume
Data from GCV Analytics and Pitchbook showed corporate venturers are increasingly opting for larger deals, consequently reducing the total number of deals.
GCV Symposium Day Two: Danone hails sustainability in business
Lorna Davis, senior advisor to Danone’s CEO, delivered a keynote speech through a video call on the importance its involvement in the B Corp initiative.
GCV Symposium Day One: The afternoon session
The afternoon session saw discussions on insurtech, fintech and the impact of artificial intelligence technology on the investment process.
GCV Symposium Day One: The morning session
A speech by UK minister Graham Stuart was followed by discussions on topics such as new markets, external CVC collaboration and risk versus return.
GCV Symposium Day One: The transition of energy, mobility and travel
Tom Whitehouse, contributing editor of Global Corporate Venturing and chairman of the London Environmental Investment Forum, hosted the breakout session on the future of energy, mobility and travel during the first day of the eighth annual GCV Symposium in London yesterday. The session featured three speakers from corporate venture capital units involved in the broader… Continue reading GCV Symposium Day One: The transition of energy, mobility and travel
GCV-BMG 2018 CVC trends and insights project
Introduction In our inaugural 2017 CVC Trends & Insights summary report (http://www.bellmasongroup.com/insights/) we capped a look at the last five years’ explosive growth of global corporate venturing programs, highlighting the professionalisation of CVC specialty practices, the standardisation of foundational CVC team roles and with now documented external benchmarks framing compensation design, and noting the progressive… Continue reading GCV-BMG 2018 CVC trends and insights project