☕️ Innovation Espresso #28
Satellites, mammoths, dolphin-whispers, and the usual shots of corporate venturing news!
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!
Next week, Innovation Espresso will be taking a short break while I’m on a well-deserved vacation exploring Seville, Algarve, and Lisbon. Expect sunshine, tapas, and maybe a few new ideas fueled by vinho verde.
If you’re around, just drop a comment, I’m always happy to connect!
💊 Innovation Pills
🛰️ Amazon is building a satellite internet network to blanket the Earth with broadband—because why just sell books when you can beam Wi-Fi from space?
⚡️ Americans are falling out of love with electric cars—and it’s not just Elon Musk’s fault this time.
🧬 The company resurrecting the woolly mammoth just got $105M to bring back the dodo too. Jurassic Park vibes, but with a VC twist.
🧠 Shopify’s CEO just shared the internal AI guidelines for his team—and they’re basically a playbook for supercharging productivity with AI.
🐬 What if we could finally talk to animals, thanks to AI? Google’s new DolphinGemma model is being trained to decode dolphin chatter, with real-world testing set for this summer.
🧠 OpenAI dropped GPT-4.1, Mini, and Nano—and yes, they’re cheaper, faster, and way smarter.
🐌 OpenAI now offers “Flex” pricing if you don’t mind waiting a bit. Speed costs, patience saves.
🧨 Google just lost a major antitrust case over its ad tech empire, and regulators might finally break up its stranglehold on online ads.
📞 This AI will call your elderly parents so you don’t have to. Sweet or deeply dystopian? You decide.
☕️ Your weekly sip of Corporate Venturing News
🚀 Solo founders are on the rise—but not in the way you think.
Kaushik Subramanian shared new data from Carta showing that 38% of startups in 2024 were founded by solo entrepreneurs, up from 22% in 2015. But when it comes to VC-backed ventures, co-founders are still the standard. The real insight? There’s no one-size-fits-all—your founding setup should match your growth ambitions and funding strategy. Source
💼 OpenAI might go full Apple.
According to The Information, OpenAI has explored acquiring the AI hardware startup co-founded by Sam Altman and legendary designer Jony Ive. It’s a play that could bring AI into beautifully integrated physical products—and take the AI war beyond tokens and chat windows. Source
🇪🇺 General Catalyst is going all-in on Europe.
The US VC powerhouse is now investing $1B annually across the continent—and doing more than just writing checks. Backers of Mistral and Helsing, they’re blending capital with ecosystem design, and even getting involved in EU innovation policy. Source
🧱 Don’t start your innovation program with a tool—start with a mandate.
Antonio Nicotra shared a crisp framework for corporate innovation setups. The best-performing programs build from the ground up: first a clear purpose and C-level commitment, then governance and resources, and only then tools and formats. It’s about creating a capability, not just activity. Source
📊 Who’s actually doing startup stuff in the corporate world?
StartupBlink just dropped its Corporate Startup Activity Index 2025, ranking 350+ companies worldwide based on their startup engagement. Top spots go to Salesforce, Intel, and Google—while Amazon surprisingly lands in 20th. The report highlights not just volume, but meaningful collaboration with the startup ecosystem. Explore the report.
🛢️ Big Oil wants your carbon tech.
Occidental has acquired carbon removal startup Holocene, marking its second big move in direct air capture. Holocene uses amino acid-based tech to pull CO₂ out of the atmosphere—perfect for both the climate narrative and enhanced oil recovery incentives under the IRA. Source
🏗️ Is venture building the best response to economic chaos?
EY says yes. Their latest report argues that corporate venture building—with agile, empowered teams and strategic alignment—remains one of the most resilient ways to drive innovation, especially in uncertain times. Source
🔐 Cybersecurity investors are leaving the datacenter and entering the grid.
There’s growing interest in startups protecting critical infrastructure: water systems, transport, power. These aren’t your typical SOC-as-a-service deals—they’re aimed at the very backbone of modern society. Source
🥦 Open innovation is reshaping food, not just tech.
A new look at Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley shows how the future of food is being driven by radical collaboration—between scientists, chefs, corporates, and cities. From vertical farms to zero-waste supply chains, the food system is getting a reboot. Source
📹 Something to watch
Sam Altman on the TED2025 stage, getting into AI’s power dynamics, future use cases, and safety concerns. Smart, thoughtful, and a bit unsettling.
🎧 Something to listen
Missed it the first time? My podcast with Sebastiano Silvestri and Giacomo Manzoni (A2A) dives into building internal ventures and making corporate VC actually work. Strategy meets practice.
🛠️ Something to try
📚 WikiTok summarizes TikTok videos with AI so you don’t have to scroll endlessly. Try it here
🧠 Build your own AI assistant with Claude in under 10 minutes. No coding, just prompts. Check it out
🌌 Discover what the Hubble Telescope captured on your birthday. It’s oddly poetic. Explore it here
🤔 Did you know?
A Japanese town turned local uncles into viral trading cards—and it worked. The game not only made kids ditch Pokémon but doubled youth participation in civic life. Pure community-building magic.
🥐 Espresso is not enough?
Benedict Evans explores Apple’s “quiet” innovation. They’re still the kings of execution, but are they becoming too careful? A smart look at why Apple’s real risk might be playing it too safe.
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See you next week time,
Davide