Corporate VC spending hit record high in 2018, report says

Corporate venture capital investments hit a record high in 2018 as tech giants such as Google, Salesforce, and Baidu poured money from their dedicated funds into smaller startups. Asia attracted more of that cash than ever before, shows a new CB Insights report.

Here’s the global picture from CB Insights’ data:
– US$52.95 billion invested across 2,740 deals
– Spending up 47 percent on the previous year
– Corporate VCs participated in 23 percent of all VC-backed deals, up from 16 percent five years prior
– 264 newly active corporate VC firms invested for the first time in 2018
– Total of 773 active corporate VCs last year

And these are the numbers for Asia:
– Asia attracted 38 percent of corporate VC deals, up from 31 corporate year prior
– China’s search giant boosted its funding chops as Baidu Ventures made the global top five corporate VCs for the first time
– China accounted for 12.8 percent of deals
– Japan is not far behind, attracting 11.6 percent

2019 might see Asia surpass North America for the first time: