☕️ Innovation Espresso #27
An AI CEO, hilarious maps, and the return of Black Mirror — and, as always, corporate venturing news on tap.
Welcome to Innovation Espresso, a quick yet powerful dose of curated news, articles, videos, reels, newsletters, and podcasts that I’ve found particularly interesting throughout the week. While I focus on Open Innovation and Corporate Venturing, you’ll find this quick yet potent dose covers more ground. Enjoy with your morning coffee!
💊 Innovation Pills
🧠 The news industry is torn between suing AI firms or striking licensing deals, as it grapples with AI’s use of their content.
📉 Tech layoffs continue, with over 88,000 jobs cut in March 2025 alone.
🧬 Cofertility raises $7M to make egg freezing free through a donor-matching program.
🎬 Black Mirror Season 7 returns with a warmer, more human-focused take on tech dystopias.
🎉 Microsoft’s 50th anniversary event marred by employee protests over AI contracts with Israel.
🤖 A tiny screw is powering the humanoid robot revolution, with China leading the charge.
🌍 European hardware startups are in crisis mode as Trump tariffs disrupt supply chains and expansion plans.
🇨🇳 How TikTok’s Parent, ByteDance, Became an A.I. Powerhouse
☕️ Your weekly sip of Corporate Venturing News
💼 Capgemini and ISAI launch €80M fund for B2B startups
Capgemini and French VC firm ISAI have launched “ISAI Cap Venture II,” an €80M fund dedicated to fast-growing B2B startups. The new fund will focus on Series A to growth-stage investments, targeting companies with the potential to partner with Capgemini commercially. This move reflects the growing appetite for strategic corporate investments that go beyond pure financial returns and aim to foster mutual value creation.
📡 KDDI and Global Brain introduce $34M Open Innovation Fund V
KDDI, one of Japan’s top telecoms, has teamed up with Global Brain to roll out its fifth Open Innovation Fund worth $34 million. The fund is on the hunt for promising startups in AI, space tech, and environmental solutions. It’s part of KDDI’s broader strategy to scout next-gen technologies and plug them into their ecosystem—think 5G, IoT, and beyond.
🚀 Neva SGR, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Compagnia di San Paolo invest €2.5M in Galaxia
Italy is entering the space race with a solid bet. Neva SGR (Intesa Sanpaolo’s VC arm), the bank itself, and the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation are investing €2.5 million in Galaxia, the national aerospace tech transfer hub backed by CDP Venture Capital. It’s a clear signal of how strategic sectors like space are becoming central to national innovation agendas.
📈 Global venture capital funding surges in March 2025
After a sluggish start to the year, VC rounds roared back in March with double-digit month-over-month growth. Key sectors like AI, biotech, and climate tech drove the surge, showing investors aren’t just cautiously optimistic—they’re ready to place bold bets again. The data also hints at larger average deal sizes, possibly due to fewer but more mature startups seeking funding.
🚗 Hyundai Mobis explores open innovation opportunities in Detroit
Hyundai Mobis is putting boots on the ground in Detroit, aiming to team up with startups shaping the future of mobility. From autonomous systems to EV battery tech, this initiative is about connecting Korea’s R&D horsepower with America’s automotive innovation capital.
🧠 NEC partners with universities to advance AI research
NEC has launched a collaborative R&D push with leading universities to supercharge progress in AI. The focus includes ethical AI, real-time language processing, and advanced human-machine interfaces. It’s a long-term move to create cutting-edge, socially responsible technologies with academic depth.
🌐 KDDI lays out full strategy for Open Innovation Fund V
A companion piece to the fund launch, this press release dives deeper into how KDDI plans to operate the fund—emphasizing cross-border deals, environmental innovation, and deep engagement with its enterprise customers to create symbiotic value from startup collaborations.
📹 Something to watch
🧠 Ever wondered how marketers seem to know exactly what you’re thinking? This insightful video delves into the realm of Quantum Marketing, exploring how companies are leveraging neuroscience to tap into consumer minds. It’s a fascinating look at the intersection of marketing and brain science.
🎧 Something to listen
🎙️ In this episode of The Corporate Venturing Podcast, I sit down with Sebastiano Silvestri and Giacomo Manzoni from A2A to explore how corporate venture capital can drive meaningful innovation inside a utility giant. We unpack how they’re building ventures, what makes a good fit between startups and corporates, and why CVC needs a long-term mindset to really work.
🛠️ Something to try
📝 Want to grab insights from YouTube videos without watching the whole thing? Kome’s YouTube Transcript Generator lets you extract and summarize transcripts in seconds. Ideal for researchers, creators, or anyone short on time but big on curiosity.
🤔 Did you know?
🗺️ Geography has never been funnier—or more revealing. In this viral post by @shabnam_774, you’ll find a collection of 15 hilarious and strangely insightful maps. From Bosnia’s awkward coastline dreams to the world tour map of broken promises, it’s a comical look at how borders, fish, and pop stars shape our understanding of the world.
🥐 Espresso is not enough?
🤖 What if your CEO was… a chatbot?
The Hustle ran a bold experiment: they asked Anthropic’s Claude AI to step into the shoes of the CEOs of Southwest Airlines, Starbucks, and Nike. The AI leaders held their own—with plenty of jargon—but also showed surprising empathy in decisions around layoffs and customer experience. The piece challenges our assumptions about what leadership really means in a world of automation.
Read: We automated the CEOs of Southwest, Starbucks, and Nike
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See you next week,
Davide