CVC meaning in Business ?

Corporate venture capital (CVC) is the investment of corporate funds directly in external startup companies. CVC is defined by the Business Dictionary as the "practice where a large firm takes an equity stake in a small but innovative or specialist firm, to which it may also provide management and marketing expertise; the objective is to gain a specific competitive advantage." Examples of CVCs include GV and Intel Capital.

The definition of CVC often becomes clearer by explaining what it is not. An investment made through an external fund managed by a third party, even when the investment vehicle is funded by a single investing company, is not considered CVC. Most importantly, CVC is not synonymous with venture capital (VC); rather, it is a specific subset of venture capital.

In essence, Corporate Venturing is about setting up structural collaborations with external ventures or parties to drive mutual growth. These external ventures are startups (early stage companies) or scaleup company (companies that have found product/market fit) that come from outside the organization. Due to its hybrid nature involving both elements of corporate rigidity and startup culture, managing a successful CVC unit is a difficult task that involves a number of hurdles and often fails to deliver the expected outcomes.