State of Venture Client 2024
Second Edition
Published in March 2025
Copyright © All rights reserved
A comprehensive snapshot of how companies benefit strategically from startups by adopting their technologies.
Letter from
Gregor Gimmy
Deloitte Global Lead for Venture Client Solutions & CEO 27pilots
Dear reader,
The State of Venture Client Report 2024 marks our second annual analysis of a transformative shift in corporate venturing (see our 2023 report). As corporations increasingly seek efficient ways to strategically benefit from startups, Venture Clienting has emerged as a powerful alternative to traditional investment or acceleration approaches. Thereby, different Venture Client Models have been deployed representing resources, value systems and processes to harness the use of startup solutions.
We have witnessed a fundamental change in how corporations benefit from startups. Rather than focusing solely on minority-equity investments, forward-thinking companies are becoming early customers of startup solutions, directly addressing their business challenges in a scalable way and at minimum risk.
Since first implementing this approach at BMW in 2015, I’ve witnessed its remarkable evolution. Venture Client Models overcoming key limitations of traditional corporate venturing by enabling companies to access cutting-edge startup solutions without significant capital investment. This accessibility has democratized corporate venturing, allowing organizations of all sizes to participate and advance their strategic objectives.
Our 2024 report, backed by comprehensive quantitative data from both corporates and startups, demonstrates how Venture Client Units are building deeper, more productive relationships between startups and Venture Clients. The results show that by becoming early adopters rather than investors, companies can achieve immediate business impact while supporting the growth of innovative startups.
As corporate venturing continues to evolve, this report offers valuable insights for organizations looking to stay competitive in today’s dynamic business environment. The growing adoption of startup solutions via Venture Clienting signals a new era in corporate venturing — one that promises more efficient, effective, and inclusive startup adoption.
Sincerely, Gregor and the 27pilots Team
About the Venture Client Report
Corporate venturing encompasses all activities aimed at generating competitive advantages through startup technologies. Within this landscape, Venture Clienting has emerged as a distinctive approach where corporations act as early customers through the usage of startup solutions rather than investors. Unlike Corporate Venture Capital, which focuses on equity investment and financial returns, Venture Clienting prioritizes direct business value through the adoption and integration of startup technologies into corporate operations.
This report sets out to investigate three key aspects of Venture Clienting in today’s corporate environment. First, we examine the current relevance and adoption of Venture Clienting as an approach to corporate venturing, tracking its evolution. Second, we analyze whether dedicated Venture Client Units provide measurable advantages compared to other approaches in areas such as speed of startup adoption, success rates, and overall impact with startups. Third, we conduct a detailed examination of current Venture Client operations, investigating how companies structure and run their Venture Client Units, including organizational setup, processes, and success measurement.
Our findings derive from two comprehensive surveys conducted between October and December 2024. The first survey examined corporate perspectives on Venture Clienting and documented operational practices. The second survey captured the startup perspective, providing insights into how these commercial relationships function from the solution provider’s viewpoint. This dual perspective methodology allows us to present a complete and balanced view of the current state of Venture Clienting. This report is a structured summary of the most insightful results from these surveys.
Through this research, we aim to advance the discourse on Venture Clienting and contribute to its continued evolution to an established corporate venturing vehicle. By providing comprehensive data and analysis, we seek to foster discussion among practitioners and researchers, support the refinement of existing practices, and help shape future developments in the field. This report represents another step in our ongoing commitment to understand and improve how corporations can effectively benefit from startup technologies at scale through Venture Clienting.
Executive
summary
The State of the Venture Client 2024
Table of Contents
Key
Findings
From Experiment to Strategy: Venture Clienting in context of Corporate Venturing
Corporate venturing is experiencing a fundamental shift, moving from opportunistic interactions to strategic business relationships. Most corporations now explicitly aim to generate business value by using startup technologies, with a clear preference for commercial relationships over equity investments. The maturity of these relationships has evolved dramatically over the past year, with Venture Client engagements becoming the new normal rather than the exception. This signals a shift from experimentation to systematic approaches.
corporates aim to benefit from startup technology & products
Question: Does your company aim to strategically benefit from startups?
How Companies aim to benefit from startups:
By buying startup products
By investing in minority shares
By acquiring the startup
Question: How does your company aim to benefit from startups?
Engagement with startups has shifted from sometimes 71% in 2023 to regularly 69% in 2024
No Data Found
Strategic Value Creation: What Corporates Seek from Startups
Corporates are increasingly focused on deriving direct operational value from startups, with process optimization and product integration being the primary drivers. While improving internal processes and acquiring new technologies top the agenda, the data reveals high approval levels with both quality and process impact. However, there’s a notable divide in perceived revenue and product impact, suggesting room for optimization in how these collaborations are leveraged for business growth. The low priority of equity ownership further reinforces that modern corporate-startup engagement is driven by practical business value rather than investment returns.
Areas to benefit from startup solutions
No Data Found
Question: How does your company obtain a benefit from startups?
Goals of Venture Client activities
No Data Found
Question: What qualitative benefits do you generate with your Venture Client activities?
Impact and Engagement: Overall Satisfaction with Venture Client Processes
Overall, Venture Clienting shows promising satisfaction levels, with particularly strong results in startup solution quality and number of startup connections. However, implementation dynamics present clear optimization potential – less than half of the respondents are satisfied with speed of new startup connections, and a third express dissatisfaction with concrete startup product testing volume. The balanced satisfaction levels across impact metrics suggest that companies are still calibrating their Venture Client Model to maximize strategic benefits.
are satisfied with the quality
No Data Found
are satisfied with impact on process
No Data Found
are satisfied with impact on cost
No Data Found
are satisfied with the amount of connections
No Data Found
are satisfied with impact on company culture
No Data Found
are satisfied with speed of new connections
No Data Found
felt neutral about impact on revenue
No Data Found
felt neutral about impact on their products
No Data Found
Question: How satisfied are you with …?
Satisfied = satisfied or very satisfied
dissatisfied: = dissatisfied or very dissatisfied
- 32% dissatisfied with number of startup products tested
- 39% neutral towards number of startup products tested
- 29% satisfied with number of startup products tested
From Buzzword to Best Practice: The Rise of Venture Client Terminology
As companies seek to scale the strategic impact from startups, they increasingly formalize their Venture Client processes and establish dedicated Venture Client Units. The term Venture Client has rapidly moved from jargon to common business vocabulary. Its widespread recognition and active usage in corporate environments, coupled with growing awareness among startups, indicates the emergence of a shared language in the realm of corporate venturing. The trend toward formalization is particularly evident in the significant number of companies – nearly three quarters of respondents – that have already established dedicated Venture Client Units to systematically scale their startup adoption efforts.
the term “Venture Clienting”,
(2023: 50%)
Question: Are you familiar with the term Venture Client and if so – do you use it within your company?
Interest in Venture Clienting Venture Clienting is strongly growing.
term publicly introduced in 2014 by G. Gimmy
No Data Found
Normalized to 2024, based on Google search trends
*Bruchhage et al. DOI: 10.34190/ecie.19.1.2634
The Venture Client Unit Advantage
Venture Client Units Significantly Deliver on Volume of Startup Adoption
Venture Client Units significantly scale startup technology piloting and adoption as compared to corporations without a Venture Client Unit. With Venture Client Units, more than half of the companies issue a first purchase order under 12 weeks after the first problem identification, compared to typical corporate engagement cycles over 26 weeks. This speed advantage extends to startup adoption volume, where companies with Venture Client Units are more than twice as likely to pilot as well as to adopt more than 10 startup technologies per year. More than 50 pilot projects and more than 20 startup adoptions are only achieved by companies with a Venture Client Unit. These metrics validate that Venture Client Units deliver on their core promise: enabling faster and more systematic startup adoption.
Number of piloted startup technologies
Companies without Venture Client Unit
No Data Found
10+ Piloted annually
No Data Found
Companies with Venture Client Unit
No Data Found
10+ Piloted annually
No Data Found
Question: How many new startup technologies do you pilot each year?
Number of adopted startup technologies
Companies without Venture Client Unit
No Data Found
10+ Adopted annually
No Data Found
Companies with Venture Client Unit
No Data Found
10+ Adopted annually
No Data Found
Question: After successful pilots, how many startup technologies does your company adopt annually through any form of business relationship?
Venture Client Units are fast and efficient
Venture Client Units transform corporate-startup collaboration by dramatically accelerating the overall engagement process. Companies that operate a Venture Client Unit demonstrate exceptional speed and efficiency in startup collaboration, completing purchase decisions in a fraction of the time compared to companies without a specialized unit for this process. This swift decision-making combines with high success rates in long-term partnerships, proving Venture Client Units’ effectiveness at both rapid evaluation and sustainable collaboration. Their direct engagement model and streamlined processes make Venture Client Units powerful enablers of corporate innovation, consistently delivering faster and more efficient startup startup engagement.
Time between first contact and first purchase order
Companies without Venture Client Unit
No Data Found
12 weeks or less from first contact to first purchase
No Data Found
Companies with Venture Client Unit
No Data Found
12 weeks or less from first contact to first purchase
No Data Found
Question: How long does it take to issue a purchase order to a startup after your first contact with the startup?
Introduced by senior exec
No Data Found
Introduced by Venture Capitalist
No Data Found
Representatives met at a fair
No Data Found
Startup was approached by Venture Client Unit
No Data Found
Question (to startup): How often did the following events trigger a sale of your product?
Percentages are sums of ‘often’ and ‘very often’’
The Presence of a Venture Client Unit: Improving Satisfaction across Key Metrics
Dedicated Venture Client Units consistently deliver higher performance in key success indicators of startup adoption. They demonstrate superior effectiveness in both piloting and adopting startup solutions, while significantly accelerating startup technology transfer speeds accelerating procurement processes. Their structured approach leads to higher overall satisfaction rates, though their more rigorous tracking of revenue metrics provides a more complete – and sometimes seemingly less favorable – picture of performance outcomes.
Venture Client Units increase satisfaction rates in…
No Data Found
Question: How satisfied are you with …?
Chart indicates what part of the respondents replied “satisfied” or “very satisfied”
Venture Client Units can improve in…
No Data Found
Startup Adoption Satisfaction Increases with Venture Client Unit
Satisfaction of Companies in…
… the amount of new startup connections/year
No Data Found
… the amount of startup products bought/year
No Data Found
… the quality of startup products bought
No Data Found
… the speed of establishing a relationship with a startup
No Data Found
… the impact of startups on cost
No Data Found
… the impact of startup on revenue
No Data Found
… the impact of startups on products
No Data Found
… the impact of startups on processes
No Data Found
… the impact of startup collaborations on company culture
No Data Found
Question: How satisfied are you with …?
Venture Client Unit Operations Today
Venture Client Units Needs: Structure, Budget, Branding, Operations and C-Level
Venture Client Units exist across different maturity levels, yet clear patterns emerge for established operations. Most surveyed units operate with efficient resource allocation, maintaining lean teams and targeted budgets. The majority establish their own brand identity and report to senior management levels, with initial purchase orders kept intentionally minimal to enable agile piloting. Notably, these organizations often rely on external experts both for initial process design and ongoing operations, combining internal governance with external expertise. These benchmarks, observed across numerous Venture Client Units, provide valuable orientation for organizations developing their venture client capabilities.
Venture Client Unit Structure, Strategy and Processes
Venture Client Units exist across different maturity levels, yet clear patterns emerge for established operations. Most surveyed units operate with efficient resource allocation, maintaining lean teams and targeted budgets. The majority establish their own brand identity and report to senior management levels, with initial purchase orders kept intentionally minimal to enable agile piloting. Notably, these organizations often rely on external experts both for initial process design and ongoing operations, combining internal governance with external expertise. These benchmarks, observed across numerous Venture Client Units, provide valuable orientation for organizations developing their venture client capabilities.
Yearly Budget of the Venture Client Unit for pilot projects
No Data Found
Question: How much of your budget is allocated to purchasing startup technologies for piloting, prior to full integration or roll-out?
Venture Client Unit heads report to
No Data Found
Question: Who does the head of the Venture Client Unit, or the person responsible for leading your Venture Client activities, report to?
Total Budget spent on first purchase order
No Data Found
Question: What is the average dollar amount (in USD) of your company’s first purchase order with a new startup?
Total staff members of the Venture Client Unit
No Data Found
Question: How many staff members are involved in conducting Venture Client activities?
Venture Client Units are branded
No Data Found
Question: Does your Venture Client Unit operate under its own brand name?
What Venture Client Units are Looking for: Startup Maturity and Definition is Key
Venture Client Units show a clear preference for startups with significant funding rounds under their belt, particularly favoring Series A and beyond. They overwhelmingly prioritize market-proven solutions that have demonstrated scalability over early-stage products or prototypes. When evaluating potential startup solutions, organizations see the highest transformative potential in research, IT, and logistics functions and the lowest potential in HR and Finance & Accounting.
no investment
No Data Found
Seed
No Data Found
Series A
No Data Found
Series B
No Data Found
Series C+
No Data Found
Question: What is the typical funding stage of the startups from which your company aims to benefit?
Pre-Prototype
No Data Found
Prototype
No Data Found
Recently launched
No Data Found
Provided at scale
No Data Found
Question: What is the typical product maturity stage of the startups from which your company aims to benefit?
Startups are relevant across corporate functions
No Data Found
Question: How relevant on a scale of 1 to 10 are startup solutions for the following areas in your company?
Most mentioned in other: Safety & Security, Sustainability
Key Performance Indicators for Venture Client Units: Impact and Solution Quality
Venture Clients prioritize clear financial and quality metrics when measuring the success of their Venture Client Units. Cost reduction and startup quality emerge as the most relevant KPIs, followed closely by revenue increase as key indicators. While operational metrics such as time-to-purchase order and time-to-startup identification are tracked, they are considered moderately to slightly relevant by most organizations.
No Data Found
Question: How relevant are the following criteria to measure the success of your startup purchasing process?
No multiple mentions in “other”
Venture Client Software: Specialization and Purpose-driven Features are Key
Organizations overwhelmingly rely on external software providers to power their Venture Client operations, with dedicated venture client solutions being strongly preferred. The software primarily serves three core functions: monitoring projects, sourcing startups, and managing the Venture Client process. While specialized platforms see significant usage, generic enterprise solutions play a limited role, indicating the market’s preference for purpose-built tools.
No Data Found
Question: What software are you using that supports your Venture Client activities?
No Data Found
Question: What Venture Client activities does the software support you with?
The Future of Venture Clienting
The first Venture Client Model traces its origins to BMW’s Startup Garage in 2015, where it revolutionized how corporations engage with startups. From these roots, the model initially gained the most traction in industrial goods and manufacturing sectors, with German industry giants leading its deployment.
However, the successful expansion of Venture Clienting into a diverse range of industries, such as financial services, building materials, and consumer goods powerfully demonstrates its versatility across fundamentally different business models and operating environments. Insurance companies like Zurich Insurance, AXA among others have proven that Venture Clienting works in highly regulated, service-oriented businesses. Building materials companies like Holcim and Knauf show how a well–designed Venture Client Model can drive innovation in asset-heavy, commodity-oriented industries with complex logistics and sustainability challenges. Meanwhile, consumer goods companies like OTTO demonstrate the model’s effectiveness in fast-moving markets where consumer preferences and retail channels are rapidly evolving. These three sectors – representing diverse regulatory environments, capital structures, and innovation cycles – provide compelling evidence that Venture Clienting can be successfully adapted to any industry’s unique characteristics.
The potential for a widespread adoption of Venture Clienting stems from two fundamental factors. First, every industry faces disruption from startups developing specialized solutions for sector-specific challenges. Second, many critical business challenges – such as digitalization, sustainability, and supply chain optimization – transcend industry boundaries, making startup solutions relevant across sectors fueled by Venture Capital funding.
This creates a dual opportunity for strategic impact. In sectors with established Venture Clients, fast followers can benefit from proven blueprints while still being early adopters. Meanwhile, Venture Client nascent sectors, such as healthcare, pharmaceutical or food & beverage providers – undergoing massive transformation – represent greenfield opportunities for pioneering organizations to gain first-mover advantages in their respective domains.
We are convinced that Venture Clienting will continue its trajectory of corporate venturing expansion across sectors. The question is no longer if industries will adopt Venture Clienting, but when they will seize this opportunity to transform their approach to strategically benefitting from startups.
While Venture Clienting originated and initially flourished in Europe, particularly in Germany, we’re now seeing compelling evidence of its global scalability. Japanese industrial giants such as Mitsubishi Electric or OKI have embraced the model to accelerate its digital transformation, while Brazilian mining company Vale is leveraging Venture Clienting to drive innovation in sustainability and operational efficiency. In the United States, GE has started implementing elements of the Venture Client Model to complement its existing innovation initiatives, and in India, Tata Group is exploring the model to tap into the country’s vibrant startup ecosystem.
However, these pioneers represent just the beginning of global adoption. The United States, in particular, represents an enormous opportunity for the Venture Client Model’s expansion. With the world’s most mature startup ecosystem, deep pools of Venture Capital, and a strong culture of corporate innovation, American companies are uniquely positioned to benefit from the model.
The fact that relatively few U.S. corporations have fully embraced Venture Clienting suggests significant untapped potential in a market where the key ingredients for success – abundant startup talent, sophisticated corporate buyers, and established innovation practices – already exist.
Asia presents another frontier for growth, with its rapidly expanding startup ecosystems in hubs like Singapore, Seoul, and Bangalore creating fertile ground for Venture Client programs. The region’s traditional emphasis on long-term business relationships aligns well with the Venture Clients’ focus on sustainable startup partnerships rather than quick exits or acquisitions.
Moreover, the global expansion of Venture Clienting is likely to create network effects. As more companies across different regions adopt the model, they create reference cases and best practices that make it easier for others to follow. The increasing geographical diversity of startup ecosystems also means that Venture Client programs can tap into innovation wherever it emerges, making the model even more attractive for global corporations seeking competitive advantages.
This global scaling of Venture Clienting creates new demands for Venture Client solution providers. As international corporations implement the model across their global operations, they require partners with local presence and cultural understanding in key markets. Local teams are essential for building relationships with regional startup ecosystems, understanding local business practices, and providing hands-on support to corporate innovation teams across different time zones. They can also help navigate regional regulatory environments and adapt a Venture Client Model to local business customs. This trend is driving Venture Client solution providers to expand their geographical footprint, establishing regional hubs to better serve their global corporate partners and facilitate the model’s international growth.
We are convinced that the Venture Client Model will continue its global expansion, transcending its European origins to become a truly international approach to corporate innovation. The combination of successful pioneers across continents, untapped potential in major markets, and the increasing importance of global innovation networks creates perfect conditions for the Venture Client Model’s worldwide adoption. The question is not whether the model will scale globally, but how quickly companies in different regions will seize this opportunity to transform their corporate venturing approach.
While extensive data exists on Venture Capital activities – tracking investments, valuations, and exits – there is a notable gap in systematic data about Venture Client activities. This presents a significant opportunity, as Venture Client interactions provide unique insights into how startups successfully partner with corporations, beyond the traditional buy-or-invest paradigm.
The Venture Client Model generates two particularly valuable data streams. First, market data about which startups are successfully selling to corporations across industries provides a different lens on startup success than traditional VC metrics. Second, detailed project data from thousands of Venture Client engagements offers unprecedented insights into what makes corporate-startup partnerships successful. This combination allows Venture Clients to benefit from both industry-specific intelligence and cross-company learnings about best practices, typical challenges, and success patterns.
The applications of this data are transformative. Historical project data can be leveraged to create predictive models for startup-corporate fit, automated matching systems based on previous successful collaborations, and risk assessment tools for both Venture Clients and Venture Capitalists. We’re seeing early signs of innovative products emerging in this space – from partnership success prediction platforms to industry-specific startup ranking systems that incorporate actual corporate purchasing behavior. These tools are beginning to bridge the gap between traditional Venture Capital data and the practical needs of corporate innovation teams.
We are convinced that the systematic collection and analysis of Venture Client data will create entirely new categories of products and services. The combination of transaction data, collaboration outcomes, and cross-industry insights represents a unique asset that will enhance both corporate innovation activities and Venture Capital decision-making. As this data ecosystem matures, it will become an invaluable resource for the entire startup economy.
Authorship & Acknowledgements
Authorship & Contacts
Gregor leads Deloitte’s Venture Client Excellence practice, overseeing the operations and development of Venture Client Units across the globe and across industries.
He coined the term “Venture Client” and developed the original Venture Client Model at BMW. He is consistently driving the conversation about improving the way how corporates strategically benefit from startups.
Sebastian is a Manager at 27pilots Deloitte. He supports organizations in setting up the right strategy & structure for new Venture Client Units and in holistically improving existing ones with years of experience in piloting & adopting startup solutions.
Julian is a Senior Venture Client Associate at 27pilots Deloitte. He drives data-driven startup intelligence and supports Venture Clients by solving deeply technical challenges with leading startups.
Glossary
Any company employee or department that buys products from external startups to obtain a strategic benefit, such as innovate a product or improve a process or business model.
Refers to the process, resources and decision system that enable a company to buy and strategically benefit from startups.
Refers to an internal organizational entity that conducts Venture Client activities. It serves as an internal service entity that helps business and functional units to buy startup products in pursuance of a strategic benefit. Venture Client Units are staffed with personnel trained in the Venture Client process.
Edition & Copyright Notice
Copyright © 2023 Gregor Gimmy, Sebastian Schäfer, 27pilots Deloitte GmbH, ETH Zürich, INSEAD Business School, Universität Passau, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of 27pilots Deloitte GmbH, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
For permission requests, please contact 27pilots Deloitte GmbH in writing, addressed to information@27pilots.com.