CONCORDi 2023 - 9th EU Conference on Corporate R&D and Innovation

Corporate investment in clean energy technology start-ups is growing and can have a significant influence in the funding of their development. However, the motivation for corporations to invest in a given technology area and the determinant of corporate investment choices remain poorly understood. In this study, we construct a global dataset and provide descriptive insights on the behaviour of corporate investors with a focus on the deployment of strategic net-zero technologies as defined by the European Commission’s Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA). Our analysis shows that the collaboration between established corporations and innovative start-ups is not effective across all technology areas and that its associated impact on access to equity finance and exit opportunities differs greatly between EU-based companies and their counterparts in the US and China. In the EU, corporate investors are associated with a positive impact on the funding of EU start-ups active in emerging technology areas such as renewable hydrogen and fuel cells or batteries. EU firms active in other strategic net-zero technology areas did however not benefit from a significant number of larger later-stage deals over time unless their growth supports the activity of industry incumbents. Our analysis, at the same time, shows that EU corporate investors have steered significant shares of their venture capital and acquisition investment towards US-based companies, indicating that they could not fulfill their strategic interest in the EU.

LETOUT Simon;  GEORGAKAKI Aliki; 

2024-01-18

European Commission

JRC135443

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC135443,