For Raymond Zheng, senior managing director at Honda Xcelerator Ventures, the Japanese carmaker’s investment arm, the central question in corporate venture capital is not whether a startup can attract funding. It is whether the technology can make the difficult journey from investment portfolio to operating business.

That distinction has reshaped his view of CVC. Early in his career, Zheng saw corporate venture as a way to learn about emerging technologies, maintain optionality and hedge against an uncertain future. But working inside a large industrial organisation changed the emphasis. READ MORE