Corporate Venture Building (CVB) is, in theory, a powerful tool for any company, regardless of size, sector or geography.
In practice, its success depends on the context of each company, particularly in terms of strategy, organisation and resources.
Few companies have all the right criteria and none of the wrong ones, so the decision is subtle.
However, if there is one imperative criterion, it is the alignment of the members of the Executive Committee; they are indeed key in the deployment (especially 'commercial') of future startups.
Favourable context
Strategy
Desire for growth relays not directly linked to the core business
Anticipated decrease in life cycle to "10" years
Relevant innovative foreign examples to be adapted ("copycat")...
Organisation
Under-exploited dormant assets (data, R&D, supply chain, business development channels, partners...)
Operational model already equipped with Open Innovation (in-ex-cubator, accelerator...), Corporate Venture Capital and Intrapreneurship
Desire to increase the innovation culture
Need for differentiation in the value proposition to Talents...
Opportunity
Interesting projects but priority 2 in the budgetary arbitrage
Available cash reserves....
Unfavourable context
Strategy
Short-term sustainability at stake (market shift, disrupter...): it is up to the core business to react
Organisation
Teams reluctant to collaborate with 'external' players (especially in sales & marketing)
Little impact of assets to be shared
Weak innovation culture & experience
Opportunity
No financial leeway of the order of magnitude of €1m per startup.
Without being exhaustive, this analysis is intended to provide food for thought and to temper the decision-making process.
The CVB is clearly a powerful lever for companies, if it is at the service of their strategy (unlike standalone startups whose main stake is intrinsic financial valuation, for the most part).
Like any strategic project, it requires the company (and in particular the ComEx) to commit over time by adopting the key success factors specific to this lever (in particular an 'Operational Business Angel' mindset).