Global Corporate Venturing runs global councils for CVCs across the main sectors of the economy from energy, health, finance, industrial, media and communications, AI and deeptech, and consumer.
Through these councils and its wider group members, more than 150 corporate venture investors told Global Corporate Venturing their trends and technologies of importance for this year. The quotes, a selection included here and to be published in the World of Corporate Venturing annual review next month, offer a unique snapshot of the potential opportunities they identify for 2022. Last month GCV published their views on the verticals and horizontals that caught the attention of these investors throughout 2021.
Notably, we have also seen responses pointing to climate tech, decarbonisation and hydrogen beyond the health and tech investment themes of last year. As the world moves toward its net zero goal by 2050 and innovation and technology follow in the same direction, such responses are hardly surprising.
What will be the biggest investment opportunities in 2022?
“Climate tech” Rahul Parekh, 2150 Venture Capital / NREP
“Sustainability has become central to every corporation’s strategy over the last year – investing in technologies that enable delivery of bold ESG (environmental, social and governance) targets will be critical” Erin VanLanduit, Cargill Ventures
“New data sources, embedded propositions, IoT (the internet of things) applications and trust tech” Ron Arnold, 11eight
“In commercial insurance, investments in technologies that help us rethink the product and service will be top of mind. Leveraging data to better determine new signals of risk, and transition to the use of more dynamic data sets will shape our investment strategy for example industrial IoT, or spatial imagery” James Orchard, QBE Ventures
“Reducing impact of climate change” Mark Brooks, Syngenta Group Ventures
“Growing importance and adoption of telehealth tools – for example, remote patient monitoring, virtual visits, increasing access to mental and behavioural health” Donald Hoang, Varian, a Siemens Healthineers Company
“Life sciences and precision medicine, cybersecurity. Digital transformation, supply chain localisation and automation especially as we grapple with geopolitical and pandemic disruptions” Faran Nouri, Lam Capital
“Cyber insurtech and fintech (insurance and financial technology) and enterprise software” Reese Schroeder,Allstate Strategic Ventures
“Smart mobility” Vito Giallorenzo, IVY Innovation Fund, BlackBerry
“Fintech” Jeff Hennig, Xilinx Ventures
“Automation due to labour shortage and sustainability” Suzanna Chiu, Amadeus Ventures / Amadeus IT Group
“Emerging ‘market networks’ and deep tech startups focusing on impact solutions” Sead Bajrovic, Grundfos Ventures
“Energy and clean tech” Maho Miyamoto, KDDI Open Innovation Fund
“Decarbonisation and sustainability” Kyle Sugiyama, Kanematsu Ventures
“Insurtech” Steve Bernardez, Avanta Ventures / CSAA Insurance Group
“The future of work” Gen Tsuchikawa,Innovation Growth Ventures / Sony Corporation and Daiwa Securities
“The focus on sustainability beyond tailpipe emissions means battery management systems, end-of-life solutions and sustainable supply chains are a major focus of OEMs [original equipment manufacturers]. The next generation of connected vehicle technologies will give connected vehicle service propositions a boost, as well as the need for cybersecurity solutions” Alex Smout, InMotion Ventures / Jaguar Land Rover
“More reliable use of automation, more cleantech, evolving social media, and healthcare” Stephen Socolof, Tech Council Ventures
“Hydrogen, carbon capture, net zero fuels” Girish Nadkarni, TotalEnergies Ventures
“Continued proliferation of electrification and while vehicles are top of mind for many, there are sweeping opportunities enabled through infrastructure. Further highlighted by labour needs and augmenting human capabilities, robotics and AI [artificial intelligence] continue to attract talent and interest as well” Dennis Liu,Ford Motor Company – Palo Alto
“Retail tech” Mizuki Enomoto, Nissho Electronics USA
“Blockchain gaming, fintech, food and agri tech” Josie Lai, Genting Ventures
“1. Fintech – is quite an emerging thing 2. Metaplatforms and ecosystems: the edge between banks, marketplaces, IT-companies will be blurred 3. AI and ML [machine learning] applications and teams” Ivan Kuzmenkov, Prospective Ventures / Norilsk Nickel
“Energy sector” Naotaka Gotoh, DIC Corporation
“The CVC industry in Latin America“ Richard Zeiger, MSW Capital
“Insurtech, cybersecurity, privacy” Naoki Kamimaeda, Global Brain
“Defi (decentralised finance)” Crispin Leick, EnBW New Ventures
“Application of blockchain technology is driving new business models and innovative solutions across verticals. In 2022 and beyond, we will see accelerating use of blockchain-based solutions by both businesses and consumers. This upcoming mass adoption will provide compelling opportunities for CVC and VC investments. The metaverse is a new whitespace area attracting top talent interested in creating products and services that do not exist yet. Companies developing metaverse platforms and applications are relatively small or unknown today but have started seeing strong traction. Exciting investment opportunities lie ahead for those that venture out into the metaverse. EVs (electric vehicles) have been in the market for a while, but growing acceptance and unmet customer needs are driving constant innovation. With a massive TAM (total available market), this space will continue to provide an abundance of superior investment opportunities across the entire EV lifecycle” Anshul Agarwal, LG Technology Ventures
“Energy transition, climate tech, industrial decarbonisation” Kemal Anbarci, Chevron Technology Ventures
“Startups in emerging markets” Kip Frey, HG Ventures / Heritage Group
“Experiences” Josh Berg, Magna Innovation Ventures
“Hydrogen, fintech, AI chips, edge computing” George Gogolev, Severstal Ventures
“Ag tech, synthetic biology, supply chain” Kris Kemeny, Tekfen Ventures
“Electrification, energy-tech, hydrogen, advanced functional materials” Anil Achyuta, TDK Ventures
“Total experience” Toshiya Maruta, Japan Post Capital
“Industry 4.0, sustainability and cleantech” Drew Amato, Lear Corp
“Semantic and NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) analysis tools to empower digital workers to be more efficient, more connected, and physically more often remote” Grant Allen,SE Ventures / Schneider Electric
“Platforms, AI, autonomy, robotics. Infrastructure and construction technology, sustainability” Chris Stern, Trimble Ventures
“Hydrogen and carbon capture” Johann Boukhors, Engie New Ventures
“Cybersecurity” Sergio Escobar,BCF Ventures
“In surgery and minimally invasive care, new models of care delivery directly targeting payors and consumers leveraging deep technology and best in class services” Oliver Keown, Intuitive Ventures
“Climate tech” Roee Furman, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures
“Modular and off-site construction, site-automation, sensor technologies” Burak Gursel, Simpson Strong-Tie
“Future of work, future of learning, web3, new mobility models, broadening financial access and literacy, climate tech” Francis Rosenberg, GSV Ventures
“Expansiveness of data and AI in digital transformation blockchain, crypto and NFTs (non-fungible tokens). The continued focus around AI, ML and data” Paul Glaser, Hewlett Packard Pathfinder
“Hydrogen value chain” Hee Suk Jung, SK Gas
“Automation addressing labour shortages across industries” Mark Johnson, Husqvarna Ventures
“Emerging markets and Africa series A” Anton Kleingeld, Old Mutual New Ventures
“Health at home” John Uribe, Stella Ventures
“Even more VC funding in foodtech and other underappreciated traditional industries (construction, education)” Andrei Zuzin, Fuel for Growth / EFKO Group
“Carbon neutral [or] climate [tech]” Michihiko Kasai,KDDI
“I believe that AI continues to disrupt businesses across all industries and we are not done yet. As an example, the entire manufacturing sector is still lagging in its digital transformation and we will continue to see innovation in the space” Rita Waite, Semapa Next VC
“The energy transition” Kaare Helle, DNV Ventures
“The biggest investment needs to be in new disruptive energy technologies. Energy companies are known to move very slowly, can they be challenged to adopt new technologies and methodologies faster?” Noel Hurley, Arm
“New market effects following markets – for example e-commerce, travel, future of work” Brandon Yahn, Convivialité Ventures / Pernod Ricard
“Biotech applications such as biofoundry, biofuels, biopharma, biomaterials and bioengineering approach to clean tech”Kenichi Funaki, Hitachi
“ESG opportunities” André Strauss, Leverage Partners
“Digital engagement” Stuart Domingos, Zurich Insurance
“More metaverse, maybe we will finally understand what that means” Michael Stewart, M12 / Microsoft
“Investment and partnering will continue to be highly attractive across many sectors and segments – reflecting available funds and key players willingness to transform and need to transform” Paul Price,IBM Ventures
“Everything around sustainability” Christian Lindener, Airbus Scale
“In fintech: defi, embedded finance, real-time lending (for example, revenue based financing), open banking applications” Suleiman Arabiat, Elevator Ventures / Raiffeisen Bank International
“Climate [tech]” Edouard van Tichelen, Natixis Investment Managers
“Metaverse” Dong-Su Kim, LG Tech Ventures
“Aggregator platforms for B2B (business-to-business)-circular economy, system infrastructure for tokenised production 4.0 and circularity of things” Florian Hofmann, 1886Ventures / Daimler
“Robotics, AI, ML, digital twins” Daisuke Tojima, Konica Minolta
“AR, crypto, blockchain” James McClurg, Sky Ventures
“Climate tech” Kendra Rauschenberger, Siemens Energy Ventures
“AI-driven technologies, hyper automation tech, chip-related technologies” Kai Engelhardt, Brose Ventures
“Hydrogen, no compromise farming” Erkki Aaltonen, Yara Growth Ventures
“Continue on the decarbonisation and climate action front” Gonzalo Galindo, Cemex Ventures
“Healthcare personalisation” Les Hine, Once Ventures
“One of the biggest trends will be artificial intelligence to diagnose cancer coupled with automated and remote diagnostics” William Taranto, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund
“Robotics” Kuni Kawase, Presidio Ventures Europe / Sumitomo
“Materials, supply chain and logistics efficiency, predictive AI” Tony Cannestra, Denso
“Targeted LNPs [lipid nanoparticles], additional applications of LNPs, additional applications for mRNA (messenger RNA) therapeutics and vaccines” Barbara Dalton, Pfizer Ventures
“Blockchain-based digital assets” Dominique Mégret, Swisscom Ventures
“Robotics” Noel Chan, Drive Catalyst
“Sustainability, hydrogen, tech” Dimitris Triantafyllidis, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures
“Climate tech – materials and sustainability, health tech, semiconductor manufacturing related technologies helped by the Chips Act” Eileen Tanghal, In-Q-Tel International
“Clean technology” Dave Schulte, McKesson Ventures
“Expanding the bubble for clean tech – for example, instead of just hydrogen, there will be real attention paid to making other alternatives viable options. Also, as the world moves away from focusing on pure autonomy as THE solution, there will be more co-bot models developed which may expand and accelerate adoption” Jaci Sager, Caterpillar Venture Capital
“Multiverse” Mauricio Cardoso, Casa Azul Ventures / O Povo
“Financing and fintech and prop tech and construction tech” Ben Price, Saint-Gobain NOVA External Ventures
“Sustainable aviation” Matt Ridley, Hangar 51 / International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG)
“NFT, agritech, sodium-ion battery as an alternative to lithium, climate tech” Yean-Chau Ong, Origgin Ventures
“Energy transformation for a greener planet, especially around technologies that can truly deliver on net zero goal” Nicolas Sauvage, TDK Ventures
“Those related to back to normal” Takeshi Kodama, 31Ventures / Mitsui Fudosan
“Energy (electrification, alternative energy sources, hydrogen, micronuclear) and sustainability (battery recycle and reuse)” Raymond Zheng, Honda Innovations
“Same as 2021. Although I am also seeing more electric vehicles and warehouse automation solutions” Tony Palcheck, Zebra Ventures
“Autonomous robots” Paul Asel, NGP Capital / Nokia
“Digitalisation of everything, special attention to healthcare” Gustavo Cavenaghi, Kortex Ventures / Fleury and Sabin
“Intersection of health and fintech: ESG enablersLisa Suennen, Manatt Venture Fund
“SaaS (software-as-a-service) companies” Francisco Schuler, Wayra / Telefonica
“Power generation, power storage and management – including nuclear, defence tech, robotics, drones, autonomous vehicles infrastructure, micro mobility integration and age tech” Rod Brown, Carlisle Place / John Lewis Partners
“Energy storage, hydrogen, DES (data encryption standard) technology” Roy Brown, Worley Technology Ventures
“Impact, AI, big data, fintechs and data-driven marketing platforms” Rodrigo de Alvarenga, HAG Ventures
“Artificial intelligence” Mohamed Nazir Azmirly, Raya FutureTECH
“Battery and EV-related technologies” Wade Sheffer, GM Ventures / General Motors
