Corporate VCs are venture capital divisions within large corporations that invest in innovative startups aligned with the parent company's business goals. Corporate VCs are an increasingly important source of startup funding, with over 1,300 currently globally. They invest to gain access to emerging technologies and talent relevant to their industry. For example, Google Ventures and Salesforce Ventures focus on AI, cloud, and software startups. Corporate VCs invest via the parent's balance sheet rather than traditional VC fundraising. They can provide strategic advantages to portfolio companies beyond just capital, like access to the parent's resources, partners, and customers. Startups view corporate VCs as a stamp of validation while corporations get valuable visibility into disruptive innovations and acquisition targets. Corporate VCs pursue financial returns like traditional VCs, but strategic alignment with the parent company's interests is a higher priority in their investment decisions.
he third edition of 0100 International — organized by Zero One Hundred Conferences in partnership with the Milan City Council’s Department of Economic Development and Milano&Partners — brought together the global private markets community for a high-signal, execution-focused gathering held from October 27–29.
François Candelon, Partner for Value Creation & Portfolio Monitoring at Seven2, shares how the firm aligns every investment around a clear “exit animal”—a vision of the company at exit—and uses disciplined execution, AI-driven transformation, and sustainability as levers for resilience and premium valuations. From reengineering core processes with AI to embedding decarbonization into business strategy, Candelon explains how Seven2 builds companies that are not just exit-ready, but future-proof.
Private markets are entering a new era where trust, compliance, and technology converge. While public markets enjoy automation and transparency, private assets still depend on paper-based, fragmented systems. Antonio Chiarello, CEO of Weltix, argues that the next leap forward is not just digitization, but the creation of digital infrastructures that redefine ownership. In this conversation, he discusses why friction is structural rather than technological, how regulation enables innovation, and how programmable liquidity and transparency can channel more private capital into real economic growth.
