Dermot Hill, director of recruitment firm Intramezzo, hosted a panel at the Global Corporate Venturing Symposium today which considered how corporate venturing units and venture capital firms can successfully work together despite sometimes having conflicting interests.
The panel consisted of Rimas Kaspeskas, managing director of logistics company UPS’s investment unit, UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund; Robert Link, chief financial officer of oil company Shell’s corporate venturing arm, Shell Technology Ventures; Nicolas Chaudron, partner at corporate-backed private equity firm IdInvest Partners; and Antoine Garrigues, managing partner at VC firm Iris Capital.
Linck picked up on a recurring theme during this morning’s talks, stating that corporates today are much more interested in strategic value and access to markets, and not necessarily a big financial return, though money remains a factor.
Kapeskas offered a word of caution, however, adding that while there are twice as many corporate venturing units today as there were a decade ago, many jump into the venturing world without the right expectations. A corporate investor needs to maintain a clear strategic vision as well as financial clarity.
Communication between corporate venturing divisions and VC firms also remains key to ensuring each party is aware of the others’ goals. Firms may be investing from a fund that has been operating for a few years already and targeting quick exits, while the corporate’s strategy may not always be clear to the rest of a syndicate.
Chaudron explained that IdInvest actively sought out a corporate partner, energy company EDF, which considers a valuable return as being able to use a technology in which it has invested. The relationship with EDF has also boosted IdInvest’s returns, as the firm celebrates exits a lot quicker than it would without a corporate backer.
Both Chaudron and Garrigues meanwhile insisted that working with a corporate is a relationship business, and that they make their respective partners, EDF and mobile network operator Orange, aware of any opportunities they come across which may not be of any interest to the firms, but would be to the corporates.
Linck on the other hand underlined the importance of informing firms about potential deals, and of being a good co-investor by providing follow-on investments.