Infographic – Corp. Venture Funding Leaps in 2021

Click on image for full-size view (CB Insights)

12 Mar. 2022. Venture capital is a topic we report on often at Science & Enterprise, both individual finance deals and overall trends. One source of venture funds making a substantial presence last year is investment divisions of corporations, known as corporate venture capital or CVC. Earlier this month, technology market intelligence company CB Insights issued a report on the state of corporate venture capital (registration required), which points out its growing impact.

In 2021, according to CB Insights, total investments from CVCs reached $169.3 billion for the year, up from $70.1 billion in 2020. Total investment dollars stayed relatively stable from 2018 to 2020, but the 2021 total is a 141.5 percent increase from the previous year. The number of new venture investment deals by CVCs also jumped markedly last year to 221, a 52 percent increase from 2020, after a two-year decline.

The CB Insights report also lists the most active CVCs in the last quarter of 2021, which includes two investor names familiar to regular readers of Science & Enterprise. The report says Google Ventures, known as GV, was the most active CVC in the fourth quarter supporting 27 companies. In July 2021 we reported on GV’s participation in the $200 million second round financing for Prime Medicine, spun-off from the Broad Institute, that conducts precise base-pair genetic editing.

Another of the most active CVCs is Alexandria Venture Investments, supporting 15 start-ups in Q4. Just this week, Science & Enterprise reported on $40 million in early funds for Creyon Bio, a new company designing RNA components on demand for therapeutics, with Alexandria Venture Investments taking part in that round.

More from Science & Enterprise:

• Advanced Tech Venture Funds Raise $365 Million
• Infographic – Climate Investments Skyrocket in 2021
• Infographic – Venture Funds More Than Double in 2021

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