CVC Unplugged
About
Available on
Community
416 episodes
Today I speak with two people who know a lot about getting stuff from A to B– Rose Chen, head of innovation investments and partnerships at supply chain and distribution company Wesco, and Hector Shibata, who has for over half a decade led AC Ventures, the CVC unit of coca cola bottler Arca Continental. The post Investing in a strong supply chain https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/04/investing-in-a-strong-supply-chain/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
With valuations down from where they were a couple of years ago, the exit horizons that investors had in mind when they made their original investment ended up being further away than they thought. The IPOs are still scarce, and M&As are still too few and far between, but investors still want exits. The post A booming market for secondaries https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/03/a-booming-market-for-secondaries/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
There are very few corporates out there that have two CVC funds, Toyota is one of them. Not only does it have an early-stage fund in Toyota Ventures, but also a growth stage unit in Woven Capital – which was previously investing on behalf of , as its name suggests, Woven by Toyota, the automaker’s next-generation mobility business, but has more recently expanded its scope to being the growth investment arm for Toyota as a whole. The post From automobiles to mobility – how Woven Capital is helping Toyota evolve https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/03/from-automobiles-to-mobility-how-woven-capital-is-helping-toyota-evolve/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
For years now, people – myself included – have been waiting for the advent, in earnest, of plant-based meats. Everyone loves a barbeque, but not the meat industry’s effect on the environment, our health, or the treatment of animals themselves. Alternatives have been coming to the shelf for years now, but the same problems persist – the taste is not quite the same as real meat, and the price is far too high to really compete. The post We should temper our expectations for alternate meat, says Grey Silo Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/03/we-should-temper-our-expectations-for-alternate-meat-says-grey-silo-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
The story of the past year or so has been artificial intelligence and, in particular, generative artificial intelligence, or gen AI. Doesn’t matter what sector you’re in, or what countries you look at, everyone is trying to apply gen AI to their business, and investors are seeing a gold mine. The post Corporates underpin over half of all Gen AI investment https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/03/corporates-underpin-over-half-of-all-gen-ai-investment/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Sopra Steria Ventures, the CVC unit of French IT giant Sopra Steria, has been around for half a decade. After a few years, however, the investment programme was not really yielding any tangible results. The structure was not quite there, the strategy was not quite aligned with the corporate leadership wanted, and the focus was too skewed towards M&A rather than venture itself. A change was needed. The post Socheat Chhay: Sopra Steria Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/02/socheat-chhay-sopra-steria-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Today’s show is a bit different – instead of a normal conversation, we’re bringing you GCV’s most recent edition of the Next Wave – our monthly webinar series that features panel discussions on emerging technologies and CVC best practices. The post The Next Wave Webinar: Venture building – how to avoid the common failures https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/02/the-next-wave-webinar-venture-building-how-to-avoid-the-common-failures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Despite their products being so ubiquitous anywhere you live in the world, and an integral part of so much of what we eat, the B2B egg, dairy and food sectors are among the least digitised out there. What this has opened up is a lot of space for startups to make a big impact. Schreiber Foods is one of the largest dairy products producers in the world, supplying stores, restaurants and other food providers all over the world. Almost exactly a year ago, The Wisconsin-based food giant launched its corporate venture capital fund, focusing primarily on next generation supply chain and sustainability. The post Blair Tritt: Schreiber Foods https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/02/blair-tritt-schreiber-foods/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
One of the most exciting up and coming venture ecosystems in Latin America is that of Chile. In an already innovative and fast growing business environment, corporate VCs are sprouting up left and right across the country, and funds are increasing in size. One such CVC, which announced the launch of its $100m fund late last year, is CMPC, the pulp and paper company that is one of the largest companies in the country, which will use its venturing arm to tackle problems related to sustainability, single-use plastic reduction, novel construction and packaging materials and more. The post Bernardita Araya: CMPC Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/02/bernardita-araya-cmpc-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Kerry Carter is an entrepreneur, executive and investor in the area of sports technology, who also happens to be a former professional athlete, having played in the National Football League and the Canadian Football League before making a jump to the world of business and currently sits as chief operating officer of Atavus, a sportstech company focused on the mechanics of tackling. The post Kerry Carter https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/01/kerry-carter/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Most people think that the Covid-19 pandemic has a supercharging effect on digital health – while that’s certainly true of things like telehealth services, is it necessarily the case for the rest of the sector? Maybe not, according to today’s guest – but independent of Covid, digital health is a booming area. Joining me today is Bill Taranto, President of MSD Global Health Innovation Fund – as it’s known outside North America – to talk about his outlook on the healthcare space – particularly in digital health – in the coming year and the shifts in the venture market. The post Bill Taranto: MSD Global Health Innovation Fund https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/01/bill-taranto-msd-global-health-innovation-fund/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
The story of the past year or so, of course, has been an explosion in demand for all things artificial intelligence. Every company in the world is thinking about how their business, processes, or products can be improved with the addition of AI across all levels, and all are looking for applications relevant to them. The post Jung Lee & T.A. McCann: Pioneer Square Labs https://globalventuringreview.com/2024/01/jung-lee-t-a-mccann-pioneer-square-labs/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
This is a podcast that focuses primarily on the world of corporate venture capital, but as we look at corporate innovation more widely, is CVC the best tool available to bring innovation into a larger organisation? According to this week’s guest, Alex Mahr, co-founder and managing partner of venture-building firm Stryber, the answer is no, or at least not necessarily. Having worked in corporate innovation for many years in a number of capacities including consultant, corporate VC, and now venture building, he sees corporate VC as perhaps a suboptimal tool to rely on, at least in isolation. The post Alex Mahr: Stryber https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/12/alex-mahr-stryber/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
If you’re a company in the industrial sector, you’re going to have a lot of waste. Industrial processes are massively resource-intensive, whether it’s water or other raw materials, and what you get out the other side is not just the finished product itself, but literally tons of waste byproduct that needs somewhere to go. What is becoming increasingly clear is that in and around that waste, is a lot of money. Anyone who comes up with technology that can effectively help large industrials reduce the amount of waste they produce, maximise the yield they can get from their inputs, and extract useful things from their waste, will find financial reward. The post Ginger Rothrock & Meghan Hunt: HG Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/12/ginger-rothrock-meghan-hunt-hg-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Many CVCs, because of their parents’ core business, tend to have, for lack of a better term, high-minded or particularly noble missions – whether that’s saving the planet from climate change, or humanity from disease, or anything else that may in some way contribute to the saving of the world – but then you have some investor who just want you to have a grand old time with the people you care about. That’s what Convivialité Ventures, the CVC unit of Pernod Ricard, aims to do. The post Stéphane Longuet: Convivialité Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/11/stephane-longuet-convivialite-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Innovation is moving fast across most sectors, but in healthcare we are really seeing how tantalisingly close we are to solving some of our most enduring health problems, and we’re advancing at a fast clip. We talk about the leaps and bounds that we’ve come over the past decade in treating and finding cures for notorious ailments, how patient selection is an often overlooked but crucial part of the drug discovery process, and why we should be optimistic about our ongoing combat against disease. The post Hakan Goker & Owen Lozman: M Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/11/hakan-goker-owen-lozman-m-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
The construction sector continues to face a number of massive challenges – skill and labour shortages, lack of standardisation, regulatory hurdles, and a massive carbon footprint, to name just a few. Zacua Ventures, the construction-tech focused VC firm launched last year by three alumni of construction CVC units, aims to alleviate them. The post Juan Niet: Zacua Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/11/juan-niet-zacua-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
For Crispin Leick, managing director of EnBW New Ventures, a passion for energy technology came early in life, and was supercharged later on when he became a father and saw his time horizons change from years to generations ahead. As head of energy generation and utility company EnBW’s corporate venturing unit, Leick and his team focus on three main areas where they can have the biggest impact, namely the electrification, digitalisation, and decentralisation of the energy system. The post Crispin Leick: EnBW New Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/11/crispin-leick-enbw-new-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Today’s show is a bit different – instead of a normal conversation, we’re bringing you GCV’s most recent edition of the Next Wave – our monthly webinar series that features panel discussions on emerging technologies and CVC best practices. The post The Next Wave: Functional foods – Investors are hungry for more https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/10/the-next-wave-functional-foods-investors-are-hungry-for-more/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
What precisely is the role of a third-party CVC fund managers in the venture ecosystems of emerging economies? According to Richard Zeiger, general partner at Brazil’s MSW Capital, it’s an important role to educate and set the standard. The post Richard Zeiger: MSW Capital https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/10/richard-zeiger-msw-capital/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
We have plenty of knowledge hidden all over the place, with potential for transformational change on important problems, but without the ability to commercialise and spread it out, we don’t get to benefit from it. My guest today is Owen Thompson, co-founder and CEO of Cambridge Future Tech, a deep tech venture builder situated – as its name suggests – in one of the most bustling technology and ideas hubs in the world. The post Owen Thompson: Cambridge Future Tech https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/10/owen-thompson-cambridge-future-tech/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
IPOs are back! With the recent listings of companies like chip manufacturer ARM and delivery app Instacart, we are seeing the resurgence of the public markets after around two years of being dormant. The post Are IPOs back? https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/10/are-ipos-back/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Cars have been on their way to essentially becoming rolling computers for quite some time now. They are better connected, increasingly electrified, and packed with features to make the driver’s life easier. Mike Smeed, managing director of Jaguar LandRover’s (JLR) venturing unit, InMotion Ventures, has been in the CVC business for only one year, but given that automotive OEMs are already designing the cars of 2030 and beyond, his outlook needs to be in decades. The post Mike Smeed: InMotion Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/09/mike-smeed-inmotion-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
My guest today is Cassio Spina, founder and lead partner of a new advisory and venture management firm Alya Ventures, which launched earlier this year. The post Cassio Spina: Alya Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/09/cassio-spina-alya-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
My guest today is Michelle Gonzalez, the global head of Microsoft’s corporate venturing unit, M12. She joined me to talk about the strategic shift that M12 has been executing since the beginning of this year to align the unit’s investments closer with Microsoft, as well as the ever-growing prospects of generative AI, the resilience of other verticals like cybersecurity and the enduring appeal of blockchain infrastructure technology despite a crypto-winter. The post Michelle Gonzalez: M12 https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/09/michelle-gonzalez-m12/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
My guest today is Arthur Alves, corporate venture capital manager of Gerdau Next Ventures, the CVC arm of Brazilian steel manufacturer Gerdau. The venture fund was established in 2020 under in partnership with American CVC-as-a-Service firm Touchdown Ventures, and Alves was hired last year to fully integrate Gerdau Next Ventures into its parent company. The post Arthur Alves: Gerdau Next Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/09/arthur-alves-gerdau-next-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Increasingly, buildings are more than just bricks and mortar. Today they’re smarter, they’re more capable, they’re greener, and they’re continually improving. Few companies are doing more work in this space than Johnson Controls, and today I’m speaking with Youssef Mawad, managing director Johnson Controls’ CVC unit, JCI Ventures. The post Youssef Mawad: JCI Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/08/youssef-mawad-johnson-controls/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
My guest today is Jonny Crowe, a lawyer by training whose long career has been tied together by one central theme: executing and managing transformation. This is something he’s done both as a member of the C-Suite within the structure of an organisation, or in an advisory capacity, for many companies including Cinch, BCA Marketplace, Naspers and Axel Springer, to name just a few. The post Jonny Crowe: Liminal Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/08/jonny-crowe-liminal-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Money, as they say, makes the world go round, and investments in financial services grew forty-fold in the decade between 2011 and 2021, from around $6bn to nearly $240bn. That is a huge leap, but according to today’s guest, Arvind Purushotham, head of Citi Ventures, it is only the beginning. The post Arvind Purushotham: Citi Ventures https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/08/arvind-purushotham-citi-ventures/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
Every successful business needs a strategy, and every business will need to innovate to survive. Strategy, of course, sets out long-term direction and intentionality, while innovation, by definition deals with new things, which naturally can be disruptive. So how do you moderate the two? Which of them informs the other more, and how? The post Debbie Brackeen: CSAA Insurance https://globalventuringreview.com/2023/08/debbie-brackeen-csaa-insurance/ appeared first on CVC Unplugged https://globalventuringreview.com.
