Why Henkel Ventures believes CVCs can outperform VCs

Why Henkel Ventures believes CVCs can outperform VCs

From EUVC by EUVC

May 27, 2026 · 41 min

About this episode

Marc Thom discusses how Henkel Ventures believes corporate venture capital can outperform traditional venture capital firms.

Most VCs think corporate venture capital is slower, more conflicted and structurally weaker than traditional venture firms. Marc Thom , Corporate Vice President and Head of Henkel Ventures , argues the opposite and explains why the best CVCs may actually outperform traditional VCs over time. In this episode, Marc joins Andreas Munk Holm and Jeppe Høier to discuss how Henkel built one of Europe’s leading corporate venture platforms, why most startup-corporate partnerships fail and how corporates can create both strategic and financial advantage through venture investing. Topics covered Why the best CVCs can outperform VCs How Henkel structures venture investing and partnerships The “holy bible” behind startup collaboration inside corporates Why most startup partnerships fail internally The role corporates should play on startup cap tables How AI is reshaping industrial R&D and materials science Timestamps (00:00) Why CVCs can outperform traditional VCs (04:00) How Henkel structures startup sourcing and partnerships (11:00) The use case framework behind Henkel Ventures (16:00) The “Role of Henkel” in startup investing (23:00) Why Henkel invested in ResearchGate (27:40) AI…

People in this episode

Hosts: Andreas Munk Holm, Jeppe Høier

Guest: Marc Thom

Topics covered

  • Corporate Venture Capital
  • Startup Partnerships
  • Venture Investing
  • Henkel Ventures
  • AI in R&D
  • CVC vs VC

Keywords

  • CVC
  • VC
  • Henkel
  • startup partnerships
  • venture investing
  • AI
  • industrial R&D
  • materials science

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Henkel Ventures, ResearchGate

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