Law firm DLA Piper, consultancy Bell Mason Group, data and information provider Global Corporate Venturing and financial services provider Silicon Valley Bank join a non-exclusive initiative to offer complimentary services. – see PRESS RELEASE.
This Corporate Venture and Innovation Initiative (CVII) is non-exclusive so it means Global Corporate Venturing (GCV) will remain impartial to the industry and all service providers but will allow our data and public information to be used by our Initiative colleagues to “offer a portfolio of advisory services on best practices for G1000 corporations that are seeking to develop and implement innovation strategies to drive growth”.
One of the most important areas of GCV’s focus remains attempting to help the industry grapple with the demands of tapping into innovation in a global world and through this initiative we can hopefully do this by allowing our data and information to be used by the other members’ clients. This fits with the launch last month of our Services Directory of all providers specialising in corporate venturing, including the members of the initiative, so venturers can find the people who can help with their business and develop best practices.
Mark Radcliffe, partner in DLA Piper’s Silicon Valley office and chair of its Corporate Venture practice, said: “Together we will provide access to specific skills and know-how that is not typically available within corporations but is critical to reducing risk and improving the probability of CV&I [corporate venturing and innovation] success.”
Globally, more than 900 companies have corporate venture operations or make significant venture investments, according to Global Corporate Venturing, a number that is growing significantly every year. This aligned set of services is the first of its kind and will provide the full-spectrum of services based on best practices necessary to establish and manage corporate venture and innovation programs, including: innovation strategy development, transformation and business operations strategy, legal, tax, intellectual property, M&A, and other financial services.
Heidi Mason, managing partner at Bell Mason Group, added: “The executives responsible for venturing and innovation are under growing pressure from boards and shareholders to demonstrate concrete progress, with shorter lead times and greater expectation for global impact. Providing these aligned services allows us to collectively help our clients accelerate progress toward their goals.”
The alliance partners include: DLA Piper, which will provide legal advice to corporations, including organizing their corporate venture funds, advising the corporate venture fund on investments in portfolio companies, developing and implementing intellectual property strategy, advising on collaborative joint ventures and performing mergers and acquisitions. In addition, DLA Piper has a series of standard training programs on legal issues for corporate venture capitalists, which it has developed over the last 10 years. BMG will leverage its proprietary CV&I Unit and Venture Development Frameworks to provide strategic and operational guidance to corporations throughout the life cycles of their corporate venture capital, incubation, and innovation partnering initiatives. The pioneering CV&I framework is the organizing vehicle for the aggregate services of the CVI Group. Global Corporate Venturing will provide comprehensive data on global corporate venture activity and analysis of innovation economy trends. Silicon Valley Bank will provide banking and financial services to corporate venture capital funds and innovation groups and their portfolio companies, as well as introductions to their start-up and private company clients. In addition, Silicon Valley Bank will provide portfolio valuation services, market analysis and proprietary research through SVB Analytics.
“We worked together to define a set of best-in-class strategic services for corporate venture and innovation groups. We chose our partners based on industry leadership, capabilities, complementary approaches and previous collaboration with many of the most innovative enterprises,” said Gerald Brady of Silicon Valley Bank.