Report: Do corporations still want to partner with startups in times of crisis?

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Space3ac — an equity-free acceleration program — just released a report about the sentiment that corporations have for cooperating with startups called “Corporate venturing in times of crisis”. According to the report’s findings, 48 percent of corporations are more optimistic about working with startups than they were a year ago.

The findings align with the fact that corporate VC funding in Europe reached an all-time high in Q1’2021 at $4.59 billion*, accounting for 23 percent of all venture money raised across the continent.

This report by Space3ac is based on the results of a survey covering the state of collaboration between corporations and startups. Combining both perspectives allowed to provide a complete picture of the corporate venture scene, including the voice of small technology companies.

“The insight comes from more than 85 corporates and nearly 100 startups,” said Wojciech Drewczyński, CEO Space3ac, and Head of Acceleration at Black Pearls VC. “We invited very interesting people to contribute to our report. Among the experts, you can find Dan Toma, Lukas Strnitse and Frank Mattes. We also engaged large corporations, startups from around the world, scientists, and advisers to participate in the survey. Thanks to this, we have gained different perspectives on the current market situation.”

For 62 percent of corporates, participating in startup events and conferences is the preferred way to establish relationships with startups. The main reasons for corporate venturing in general are uncovering new trends, increasing own efficiency, and investing in startups — strategically or otherwise.

Areas such as AI & Machine Learning, Big Data, Internet of Things, and Industry 4.0 are the most interesting strategic fields to European corporations.

“This report clearly indicates that there’s a growing awareness among corporate entities of capabilities that startups can bring to them,” said Krzysztof Kanawka, co-founder and scouting manager at Space3ac. “That is why it is important to search right now for promising startups, who develop their technologies or services and identify potential corporate partners. This is the goal for the Space3ac Poland Prize program, which in 2021 conducts two recruitment campaigns.”

Here’s a preview of the main topics in the report:

• The most popular forms of corporate venturing.
• The level of optimism regarding cooperation with startups.
• The biggest barriers to an effective collaboration with corporations.
• Trending strategic fields.
• Corporate challenges of collaborating with startups.
• Startups' level of satisfaction due to cooperation with corporates.
• Tips from corporations & startups on how to collaborate successfully.
• Insights from 10 amazing experts (book authors, corporates, startups, innovation leaders, advisors, etc.).

Download the free report and learn more about how corporations feel about cooperation with startups. If you run a startup and would like to start a collaboration with corporations, apply to the Space3ac Poland Prize II. The recruitment for the first batch ends 17th of August, 2021. Invest in Pomerania is the main partner of the report.

* State of Corporate Venturing in Europe, Q1'2021