Deep-tech startups need more than money; they need a market, testing infrastructure and a patient industrial partner — which is exactly where corporate venture capital (CVC) becomes worth more than plain capital.
An industrial holding can simultaneously act as first customer, testing ground and distribution channel, shortening the perilous crossing of technology’s “valley of death.”
Still, CVC succeeds only with decision-making independence and a long time horizon; without both, corporate investing degrades into an expensive procurement unit.