What’s the difference between CVCs and VCs?
What’s the difference between CVCs and VCs?
“We do the same job as VCs and at the end we have the same ultimate goal: helping invested startups to succeed. But we pursue different intermediate objectives.”
“It is impossible for CVCs to be the best financial performers. Our ambition should be to be the best strategic fund. That means to gather strategic market intelligence and get partnerships able to have an impact (i.e. business contribution)”.
This is the vision of Johann Boukhors, Managing Director at ENGIE Ventures, the CVC arm of the French multinational utility company launched back in 2014. They evolved their strategy down the way.
“We no longer invest in third party funds. We did in the past to build up the network. It is the right way to enter into new geographies (such as China and India). But currently we invest only directly. We prefer cherry picking”.
Engie Ventures' sweet spot remains Series A, with initial tickets from 1 to 5 millions. Why?
“We do not invest too early (we invest only when the future of the company is already set) nor too late (the strategy has not yet been fully defined).”
Because at the end “CVCs are like chefs. They work on something that is not ready yet”.