European Venture Capital Playing Catch-Up With Asia

Venture capital in Asia has come a long way from an also-ran to a market that is second only to the biggest name in venture capital, the United States. According to analyst CB Insights, $20 billion corporate venture capital deals and equity funding was given out in Asian markets in the first half of 2021, almost as much as in all of 2020. But VC in Europe has been growing at an even faster clip, quadrupling in H1 of 2021 compared with H1 of 2020.

Funding to the UK and Germany makes up around half of all European CV, but France, where $1.6 billion were given out in the first half of 2020, grew funding even faster. China is the biggest market in Asia, responsible for around half of Asian spending. The U.S., Asia and Europe together account for around 97 percent of global CVC.

According to the report, corporate venture capital deals in H1 of 2021 numbered 2,099. The most active corporate investor was Google Ventures, followed by Salesforce Ventures and Coinbase Ventures. Japanese investments by Mitsubishi and Sony came 7th and 8th, followed by Chinese investors Lilly and Lenovo.