Venture studios and venture building are activities that have now existed for several decades with a proven record of success. In contrast, corporate venture building has historically faced scepticism in venture capital circles. It is often seen as a step removed from the agility of independent startups. The criticism is often around how corporate ventures lack the agility and risk tolerance of independent startups. They are perceived to be weighed down by internal bureaucracy and often misaligned with entrepreneurial incentives.
Furthermore, there is a perception that corporates struggle to attract seasoned entrepreneurial talent. Such talent may shy away from ventures perceived as too constrained by corporate priorities. They may also dislike organisations that are too focused on incremental gains rather than breakthrough innovation. Another challenge is balancing the short-term demands of meeting corporate financial targets with the long-term strategic nature of a venture capital investment.
However, in recent years more and more corporates have entered the venture building space, and that perception is changing. Among them is IMI, a publicly traded company in the United Kingdom with deep engineering roots. It has identified venture building as a critical lever for future growth in fast-evolving sectors and emerging technologies. IMI established the IMI Venture Studio in 2023 with an approach based on three powerful pillars. First, market-driven validation, second, world-class entrepreneurial talent, and third, leveraging the corporate advantage.
Also read: Futureproofing the energy and industrial sector in Asia with IMI’s Venture Studio
Market-driven validation
The first pillar, market-driven validation, ensures that every venture IMI pursues is grounded in market reality. When new ventures are built without proper market validation, they can be misaligned with customer needs. They may also face challenges in gaining commercial traction. Insufficient validation can result in ventures that burn through resources. They chase assumptions rather than solve customer problems, leading to wasted capital, lost time, and missed opportunities.
IMI overcomes this by starting with a rigorous validation process. This filters out concepts that will not gain traction with paying customers early on. In this last year alone, the company vetted over 50 business ideas, selecting only one to advance to the venture building phase. In this phase, they work with expert partners through EDB’s Corporate Venture Launchpad programme. These industry leaders have the best practices in the venture building space and a track record of bringing successful ventures to the market.
Coupled with this, they conduct in-depth analyses of market trends and perform comprehensive competitor benchmarking. They also gather valuable customer feedback through targeted outreach. Finally, they run pilot tests with potential customers to thoroughly validate market demand and ensure a strong problem-market fit. This disciplined approach gives IMI’s ventures solid foundations from which to build upon.
World-class talent
Investors know the impact of experienced entrepreneurs, and IMI makes this a priority. Research shows that second-time founders are twice as likely to deliver a successful exit compared to first-time founders, and it is easy to see why. These founders bring a playbook of tools that has been battle-hardened in their previous entrepreneurial experience. They bring in a network of established investors and mentors that can guide them and potentially become venture backers. They know how to attract top talent to the organization. But maybe most important, they understand the urgency of hitting critical milestones early. As a result, they maximise runway and accelerate toward both commercial and investment goals.
Why would these highly-qualified founders choose to build with IMI and run corporate-backed ventures? The answer is compelling: to ensure founders have the best possible chance of success, IMI provides dedicated resources tailored to their needs. This includes access to those same expert venture builders who guide the process. This enables Founders to benefit from a rigorous three-month sprint designed to validate their ideas. As a result, they develop a viable business model and go-to-market plan. During this sprint, critical startup assumptions such as customer pain points, willingness to pay, product prototyping, and financial modelling are thoroughly tested. By the end of this phase, founders are equipped with a clear and actionable roadmap to turn their ideas into scalable businesses.
IMI also offers seed capital commitment, starting them with rigorously validated ideas, and a mission that aligns with a greater impact than mere financial returns: IMI’s commitment of breakthrough engineering for a better world. Most critically, the venture starts its growth journey alongside a strong strategic partner from day one. This strategic partner is capable of offering market access and expertise.
Leveraging the corporate advantage
Corporate venture studios like IMI provide a springboard for founders, significantly increasing their chances of success in competitive markets. The company’s ventures have the opportunity to leverage IMI’s corporate advantage. They do this by tapping into IMI’s extensive availability of industry veterans and engineers with deep domain expertise. These experts have access to hundreds of customers across global markets, industries and applications through IMI’s long-established market reputation.
Moreover, IMI’s Venture Studio team offers a set of tools that strengthen the venture’s potential. This includes sourcing top co-founders through a curated pipeline of interdisciplinary talent. This year alone, they vetted over 500 potential candidates, building a powerful roster of talent ready to lead ventures.
IMI also delivers a best-in-class governance foundation. This includes legal structures, such as founder agreements and employee incentivization plans. This gives IMI-backed ventures a distinct edge over similar early-stage startups. Finally, their extensive network of partners and investors allows ventures to spend more time on rapid scaling. As a result, they spend less time fundraising.
Equipped with these powerful tools, the venture is strategically positioned for accelerated commercial growth and expedited fundraising. This is unsurprising, given that venture studio-backed startups achieve exits 33% faster than their independent counterparts.
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Working with IMI Venture Studio
IMI Venture Studio is passionate about fostering innovation and building ventures that shape the future of the energy and industrial sectors. If you are interested in partnering with IMI Venture Studio and its ventures, whether through collaboration, investment or in building new ventures together —we invite you to join us in this journey.
To explore partnership opportunities, reach out to the IMI Venture Studio team at general@imiventures.com. Let’s build new ventures for a better world together.
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This article is sponsored by IMI
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Featured Image Credit: IMI
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