Last week we talked about how corporate venture investments were actually down through the past two years, despite big investments in AI by the likes of Microsoft and Google.
However, that doesn’t mean large U.S. corporations and their venture arms are not leading a lot of rounds — and some big ones at that.
The likes of GV, Salesforce Ventures 1 and M12 top the list so far this year in terms of rounds led or co-led by U.S.-based corporate ventures — including massive bets in AI, healthcare and the cloud.
With Crunchbase data, let’s dive into not just who is investing, but taking the pole position in those deals.
Taking the lead (or co-lead)
When it comes to investing, not only has GV — or Google Ventures — taken part in the largest number of rounds so far this year (46) as we discussed previously, it also is tops when it comes to CVCs leading or co-leading rounds, at 23.
The deals that GV has led or co-led have totaled $859 million this year, according to Crunchbase data — on pace to top the $1 billion-plus in rounds it led or co-led last year.
The largest it has led or co-led this year include a $125 million round for biotech firm Santa Ana Bio, $200 million for data observability startup Cribl, and AI legal tech firm Harvey’s $100 million round — the diversity of which shows how GV likes to spread its money into different sectors.
Salesforce Ventures has led or co-led the second-most rounds — nine this year, leaving it well off last year’s pace when it led 14. Those rounds have totaled $240 million, while last year’s totaled $510 million.
Salesforce’s venture arm led a $106 million round for Menlo Park, California-based Together AI — which has developed a cloud platform to allow developers to build on open and custom AI models — at a $1.25 billion valuation in March.
While both Salesforce Ventures and GV have participated in a lot of rounds this year, the next CVC has been part of only 15 rounds — but led nine. PayPal Ventures, the investing arm of the fintech giant, also has not led or co-led huge rounds, but did co-lead Indonesia-based omnichannel insurtech startup Qoala’s $47 million Series C. Most of the rounds it has led or co-led have been small to medium-sized, the rounds it has led or co-led this year total $214 million — already besting last year’s $150 million total.
Microsoft’s venture arm, M12, follows a similar pattern. While the investment arm has only led or co-led seven rounds this year, those rounds total $152 million — already beating the $87 million such rounds totaled last year.
Those rounds have run the gamut from databases to edge computing platforms, but not surprisingly two deals are in cybersecurity — as Microsoft is perhaps the largest cyber provider in the world.
M12 led a strategic investment (the amount was undisclosed) for Israel-based Zenity, a security governance platform for low-code/no-code and AI applications, and a $14 million Series B for Santa Clara, California-based Bolster AI, a developer of protections against phishing and other scams.
Finishing up our look at the top five CVCs in rounds led is Intel Capital — which may be the most interesting of the bunch considering its parent’s recent headline grabbing news.
Perhaps not shockingly, the amount of rounds Intel is leading is down, as is its overall deal count. Last year, the investment arm did 32 deals total, but it has consummated only 15 this year. It also has only led or co-led six rounds in 2024, compared to 16 last year.
Last year, the rounds it led or co-led totaled $275 million. This year, those rounds have totaled $166 million.
Those rounds include early-stage fundings for AI-related startups such as Bria and RunPod, as Intel looks to not miss the AI revolution as it did the mobile.
Big names
While it is somewhat surprising to see CVC deals on the decline the past few years after so many large, noteworthy ones, it is not at all shocking to see these CVCs leading the way in deals led or co-led. Microsoft, Google and Salesforce all have made it clear they are willing to invest billions to lead in AI. Intel also has made strides to not repeat past mistakes — although its future still remains up in the air.
However, aside from the splashy AI deals, these CVCs continue to pour cash into other areas of immense personal interest like cyber (Microsoft), biotech (GV) and payments (PayPal Ventures).
It’s unlikely these CVCs will give up that lead anytime soon.
Related reading:
Illustration: Dom Guzman
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