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Global VC Firm Cathay Innovation Launches C.Lab to Advise Corporations on Open Transformation in AI Era

December 2, 2024
Europe

 New strategic advisory arm out of San Francisco bridges international corporations with cutting edge  startups and technology players from Silicon Valley and other global tech hubs

San Francisco, CA – December 2, 2024 – Global venture capital firm Cathay Innovation today announced the launch of C.Lab, a new strategic advisory arm dedicated to bridging the world’s leading corporations to open innovation in Silicon Valley and other global tech ecosystems. The open innovation lab is led by Matthieu Soulé and Arnaud Auger, who join Cathay Innovation from BNP Paribas, where they spent the last decade advising large corporate clients from around the globe on their innovation and business strategies from San Francisco.

C.Lab’s mission is to support corporations in driving new business activities and innovation — for long-term growth, resilience and the sustainable transformation of their organizations. It aims to help corporate executives shape their innovation strategies, while understanding and navigating the latest technology trends and biggest opportunities across industries.

“In the AI era, the focus has shifted from disruption to transformation, making it mission critical for startups and large corporations to form deeper collaborations,” said Denis Barrier, Co-Founder of Cathay Innovation. “We’ve always taken an ecosystem approach in our venture capital practice, connecting startups to our strategic industry partners for mutual growth and opportunities. C.Lab represents a natural progression, expanding our services and value to corporations — recognizing that both sides of the ecosystem are absolutely essential for true transformation.”

The  launch comes as AI continues to reshape industries and traditional business models, with Silicon Valley recognized as the epicenter of this transformation. As the home of large tech giants and the AI capital of the world, attracting $117B of venture capital funding for AI startups since 2014 (three times of all of Europe in the same period per pitchbook data), the San Francisco Bay Area drives innovation crucial for industry competitiveness. As AI advances rapidly, corporations outside this hub face an urgent need to adopt new technologies and best practices or risk falling behind.

C.Lab offers a range of advisory services, including:

  • Tech Startup & Partner Scouting: identifying key relevant startups or technology players to partner with, invest in or acquire pending business needs
  • Strategic Studies : Deep dive on new business opportunities and go to market strategies for new products and services
  • Business Development & Operational Support: immersive experiences testing new technologies, meeting relevant startups and industry players addressing top priorities of executive committees and board members to accelerate and transform their business. The team will also leverage Cathay Innovation’s existing VC platform to operationally catalyze strategic partnerships between corporates and startups
  • Insight Webcast: executive insights breaking down analysis of key trends and business implications

“Corporations are increasingly looking to transform their organizations with the help of external partners and emerging startups— open innovation, or rather open transformation, is accelerating through partnerships, joint ventures, alliances with peers, minority investments and M&A,” said Matthieu Soulé, Head of C.Lab at Cathay Innovation. “The challenge comes down to access to the best players and the lack of a holistic view of technology trends beyond the industry in which they operate. With the addition of C.Lab to Cathay’s existing global investment practice, we aim to bridge this gap and be the hub where international corporations meet startups and innovation from Silicon Valley and beyond.”

Based out of Cathay Innovation’s existing San Francisco office, the C.Lab team will work with corporations from Europe, North America, Asia and Latin America in the fields of financial services, healthcare, energy, mobility, real estate, retail, luxury and more. The advisory group complements Cathay Innovation’s multi-stage venture capital practice, which will continue to invest in startups transforming industries and society across the world.

About Cathay Innovation

Founded in Paris in 2015, Cathay Innovation is a multistage venture capital firm affiliated with Cathay Capital, investing in founders building transformative businesses across Europe, North America, Asia, Latin America and Africa. Its platform connects founders with investors and its ecosystem of leading Fortune500 corporations to help startups scale and transform industries with consumer to enterprise and AI solutions in commerce, fintech, digital health and mobility / energy. Cathay Innovation now manages over €2.5B AUM with offices in Paris, Berlin, Madrid, San Francisco, Mexico City, Shanghai and Singapore and has invested in over 100 startups including Chime, Pinduoduo (NASDAQ: PDD), Glovo, Wallbox (NYSE: WBX), Owkin, Ledger, ZenBusiness, Alma, Descartes Underwriting and more.

To learn more, visit us at www.cathayinnovation.com or follow us on LinkedIn.