Allied to this were strong commitments to new programmes and venture capital funds, with half a dozen or so since the start of last week, as well as other open innovation tools such as accelerators and incubators.
Many of these new commitments complement or join existing corporate venture capital strategies by looking at different regions, sectors or stages of development.
This week, Japan-based automotive manufacturer Toyota has added an $800m global growth-stage investment fund to its early-stage, artificial intelligence-focused CVC unit, while the world’s largest oil and gas major, Saudi Aramco, has more quietly set up a $1bn diversification venture fund.
Toyota’s Woven Capital fund will begin operations in January 2021 and job applicants should apply through this page.
Aramco’s newly formed Prosperity 7 Ventures, named after the very first well that discovered oil in the Saudi Arabian desert, will split its focus about half and half between the US and China, and has hired Joe Chang to run activities in the latter territory (the former position appears still to be open, as they had been looking to hire in Boston).
Aramco’s global corporate venturing programmes now manage about $1.8bn across Prosperity 7 Ventures, SAEV, the Middle East-focused Wa’ed Ventures and participation in the $1bn OGCI Climate Investments alliance.
This strategy of multiple innovation funds also used by many other corporations, such as Alphabet, SoftBank, Tencent and Cisco, reflects the growing sophistication of corporate venturing as a tool but allied with pressure on the C-suite to manage and focus them.
