|
Corporate Venturing Group Forms To Meet Special Needs Of Corporations
National Venture Capital Association Supports Effort
February 3, 2004 – Palm Springs, CA – The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) announced today that it has formed a special sub-group for corporate investors. The group, called the NVCA Corporate Venture Group (CVG), was formed to fulfill the information, education and networking needs of corporations, enabling them to accelerate the progress of innovation and growth through successful strategic venturing. The CVG is designed to build better communication and practical cooperation across all parties in the venture process – corporations, venture capitalists, start-up companies and the research community. The announcement was made at IBF’s Annual Corporate Venturing & Strategic Partnering Conference in Palm Springs where many corporate venture capitalists were gathered.
Even though some corporations have chosen to abandon their corporate venturing programs in recent years, there are many corporations who remain committed to the venture capital asset class. The members of the NVCA Corporate Venture Group recognize the cyclical nature of the venture capital business and the long-term commitment required to succeed in the industry. Furthermore, venture capitalists are interested in co-investing as well as forming strategic relationships with corporations as they represent potential distribution channels, strategic partners and acquirers for their portfolio companies.
Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association, commented, “Corporate venture capitalists have played an important role in our industry for decades. More recently, though, corporate venturing groups have been recognizing the need for the sharing of best practices and collaboration between the corporate venturing world and the traditional venture capitalists. NVCA is pleased to support this effort.”
“Corporations will benefit greatly from the tailored programs and information offered by CVG. For the first time, there will be a central place were corporate venture capitalists can turn for networking, training and best practices,” added Mark Klopp, Managing Director of Eastman Ventures/Eastman Chemical Company and Chairman of the CVG Advisory Board.
In 2003, $1.1Billion was invested in growth oriented companies by corporate venturing groups, representing 6% of all venture capital investment. The amount invested by corporate venture capitalists has tracked similarly to the trends of the overall venture capital industry. The 2003 figures were close to the activity seen in the last pre-bubble year, 1997, when corporate venturing groups invested $957 million, also representing 6% of total venture capital invested in that year.
Amount of Venture Capital
Invested By Corporations
|
| Year |
No. of Deals |
Sum Inv. ($mil) |
| 1995 |
126 |
404.78 |
| 1996 |
217 |
710.01 |
| 1997 |
348 |
957.01 |
| 1998 |
518 |
1,677.66 |
| 1999 |
1,324 |
8,342.37 |
| 2000 |
2,152 |
16,920.45 |
| 2001 |
1,004 |
4,991.63 |
| 2002 |
553 |
1,869.75 |
| 2003 |
415 |
1,136.30 |
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers/Thomson Venture Economics/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree Survey
|
All current corporate members of the NVCA will automatically become members of the CVG and the NVCA anticipates that the special services offered by the CVG will attract other corporate venturing groups to the Association. The CVG will offer special education and networking programs to corporate venturing groups as well as facilitate the sharing of best practices.
|
|
|
|
|
