The short answer
Corporate venture building is the practice of creating new businesses from within an established company, using its customers, data, brand and industry knowledge. A repeatable process finds an opportunity, tests demand with evidence, builds the product and then launches it as a business unit, a joint venture or an independent company. This guide explains the models, the costs, the results to expect and the first six decisions a CEO should take.
What is corporate venture building?
McKinsey defines new-venture building as creating new revenue from new products, services or businesses that need capabilities the company does not yet have. BCG describes business building as inventing, launching and scaling new business lines, units and services. Global Venturing, which tracks corporate venturing, describes venture building as creating new companies, internally or with a studio partner, rather than only investing in companies that already exist.
McKinsey lists four forms that a new venture can take.
| Form | What it means | Example of the question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| New delivery model | Serve the same customers in a fundamentally different way | Can we sell outcomes instead of equipment? |
| New product for existing customers | Use the customer base you already have | What else do our current customers need from us? |
| New product for new customers | Move into an adjacent market | Can our data or network serve a different sector? |
| Acquire and scale a novel proposition | Buy an early business and grow it with your assets | Can we speed up by acquiring and then building? |
Table 1. Four forms of new-venture building. Source: McKinsey Global Survey, October 2024.
How it differs from related approaches
Corporate venture building is often confused with other ways of working with new businesses. The difference lies in who creates the company and who owns the result.
| Approach | What the corporate does | Who creates the business | Typical measure of success |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate venture building | Builds new companies with its own assets and a dedicated team | The corporate, often with a studio or builder partner | New business revenue, launches, strategic options |
| Corporate venture capital | Invests in startups that already exist | Outside founders | Funding raised by portfolio companies, exits, returns, strategic value |
| Accelerator program | Supports a cohort of existing startups for a fixed period | Outside founders | Progress and funding of the cohort |
| Corporate R&D | Develops technology and products for the core business | Internal teams | Products and patents that serve existing lines |
Table 2. Plain-language comparison. See the full guide to corporate venture building vs corporate venture capital.
Why CEOs are investing in it
The McKinsey Global Survey of October 2024 (1,176 respondents, fielded May to July 2024) shows how prominent the topic has become. The figures below are survey responses, not audited results.
| Finding | Figure |
|---|---|
| CEOs who rank venture building in their top three priorities | About half |
| CEOs who expect to build new ventures in the next year | About two-thirds |
| Respondents investing 20% or more of growth capital in new ventures | 38% |
| Organic growth gap for those that do invest 20% or more | 2 percentage points higher (2.5 points for companies above $1 billion in revenue) |
| Share of enterprise value from ventures launched in the past five years | 16%, from 13% of revenue |
| Share of revenue respondents expect from new ventures in five years | 24% |
| Success rate of expert builders against novices | About twice as high |
| Year-five revenue of expert builders against novices | About 12 times higher, with about twice the capital before breakeven |
Table 3. Source: McKinsey Global Survey, 22 October 2024. McKinsey sells business-building services, so treat these as one industry view.
Four routes to a new business
Corporates take several routes to a new business, and most use more than one. Highline Beta, a venture studio, lists five: build, buy, partner, invest and spin out. For venture building, the useful distinction is how the work is organized.
| Route | How it works | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Internal unit | The corporate hires and runs its own venture team, often under a holding structure | Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures places 15 ventures under one holding company, each with its own brand, governance and board |
| Studio or builder partner | An external team builds ventures with the corporate’s assets; the corporate often co-invests | Anglo American uses both in-house and studio routes |
| Spin-out with minority stake | Founders are recruited to build from the parent’s technology; the parent keeps a minority share | Bosch Business Innovation, backed by a EUR 200 million fund, builds founder-led spin-outs from Bosch technology |
| Platform inside a national company | A dedicated platform sources ventures, internally and externally | Aramco’s LAB7, launched in 2024 with about 70 staff, can support about 25 startups at once |
Table 4. Sources: Global Venturing (12 July 2024, 21 August 2026, 19 August 2026); Highline Beta.
How a venture is built: the stages
McKinsey describes three broad stages: ideation and validation, build and launch, and scaling. The pace varies. ADP Ventures, which builds services for ADP’s own product suite, reports about six to seven months to a thesis, about ten months to product-market fit, and about four years from start to a built venture. TURN8 works in four phases and reports six to nine months from concept to launch for its programs.
| Stage | Question the stage answers | Evidence needed to move on |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Discovery and thesis | Which opportunity is worth testing? | Clear thesis linked to a corporate asset and a strategic challenge |
| 2. Validation and design | Do customers want it and will they pay? | Customer interviews, prototype tests and a viable business model |
| 3. Build and launch | Can we deliver it to real customers? | Working product, first customers and measurable traction |
| 4. Scale and optimize | Can it grow and stand on its own? | Repeatable growth, unit economics and a clear route: absorb, joint venture or spin out |
Table 5. The TURN8 four-phase method. Each phase closes with a gate review; see our go no go decision template.
What results to expect
New businesses are hard to scale, and CEOs should plan on that basis. McKinsey found in 2020 that only 24% of new businesses launched in the previous decade were large-scale. A later McKinsey summary reports that only one in four ventures launched by incumbents in the past decade became viable at scale. Experience helps: corporates that launched four or more ventures in ten years were more than twice as likely to return five times their investment or more.
The survey data also point to improvement. In a McKinsey survey reported in March 2026, the share of corporate ventures above $10 million in revenue rose from 45% in 2023 to 61% in 2025, and the time to reach that level fell from 38 months to 31 months. These are respondent estimates from a firm that sells these services, so read them as direction, not a promise. Our article on why corporate ventures fail covers the causes in detail.
| Question | Finding | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Spend per venture over its lifetime | 65% of programs plan to spend less than $1 million | Global Venturing, 5 August 2026 |
| Share that build ventures in order to spin them out | 25% | Global Venturing, 5 August 2026 |
| Teams run by specialists | 84% use specialist teams; 64% have fewer than five staff | GCV survey of 100+ companies, reported September 2025 |
| Share able to offer startup-style equity | About 20% | GCV survey, September 2025 |
| Typical volume | One or two ventures a year, each supported for two years or more | Global Venturing, 5 August 2026 |
Table 6. Costs and staffing. Spending varies by sector: hardware costs more, and most financial services ventures spend less than $500,000.
Six decisions a CEO should take first
McKinsey identifies six actions that separate expert builders: a portfolio approach, dedicated funding, independence balanced with ties to the core, visible top-level support, a dedicated expert team and outside capabilities. Experts are 1.4 times as likely to have a C-suite champion. In practice, six decisions come first.
- Why are we building? Name the strategic challenge and whether the aim is revenue, strategic options or a financial return.
- Which assets will the ventures use? List the customers, data, distribution, brand and expertise that competitors cannot copy.
- Which model? Choose between an internal unit, a builder partner or a mix. Global Venturing advises choosing early and planning hiring and pay.
- Who sponsors it? Appoint a named C-suite champion and a dedicated venture leader.
- How is it funded and governed? Release capital in stages against evidence, and agree the decision rules in advance. A go no go decision template helps.
- What happens to a successful venture? Decide in advance whether it is absorbed, run as a joint venture or spun out, and structure it so outside investors could back it.
How AI is changing venture building
McKinsey’s March 2026 report calls AI “the new operating system of venture building”. It gives examples of faster product delivery: one wealth venture doubled the speed of its first product build. The report also cites an Antler survey in which 93% of respondents said AI sped up their execution. Global Venturing reports that corporates use AI mainly for workflow efficiency and product development and less for idea generation and validation. About 60% of the McKinsey respondents want generative AI ventures within five years, but most of those already building are still in ideation or early development.
Speed does not replace evidence. Faster building makes it more important to test demand with customers before spending on a product. Read more about the TURN8 AI Studio.
Corporate venture building in the GCC
Saudi Arabia is the clearest example. Aramco launched LAB7 in 2024 as a venture-building and product development platform. Two internal ventures, in self-cleaning solar panels and code compliance checks, were commercialized through deals that exchange intellectual property for equity, and LAB7 now sources mostly from outside. Across the GCC, corporate venture capital grew from about $111 million in 2017 to about $300 million in 2023, according to PwC Middle East using MAGNiTT data. Read the full guide to corporate venture building in Saudi Arabia.
How TURN8 works with corporates
TURN8 is the venture operating partner for GCC corporates and sovereign-linked institutions. Four engines operate as one system: Venture Building, Corporate Venture Capital, AI Studio and the TURN8 Accelerator. Each engagement can run as Operate For You, Operate With You or Build to Own. TURN8 and its founding team have built more than 120 ventures and deployed more than $500 million since 2013. See the TURN8 method.
Considering a venture program?
Talk to TURN8 about the first venture mandate. Discuss a Mandate or Request a Private Briefing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is corporate venture building?
Corporate venture building is the practice of creating new businesses from within an established company, using its customers, data, brand and expertise. A repeatable process tests demand with evidence, builds the product and launches it as a business unit, joint venture or independent company.
How is corporate venture building different from corporate venture capital?
Corporate venture building creates new companies, while corporate venture capital invests in startups that already exist. Venture building is measured by new business revenue and strategic options, while corporate venture capital is measured by portfolio funding, exits and returns. Many corporates do both.
How much does corporate venture building cost?
Global Venturing reports that 65% of corporate venture building programs plan to spend less than $1 million per venture over its lifetime. Hardware-heavy sectors cost more, and most financial services ventures spend less than $500,000.
How many corporate ventures succeed?
No single success rate is reliable. McKinsey found in 2020 that only 24% of new businesses launched in the previous decade were large-scale, and a later McKinsey summary says only one in four incumbent-launched ventures became viable at scale. Experienced builders do better: expert builders are about twice as likely to succeed as novices.
What does a CEO need to decide before starting?
A CEO should decide why the company is building, which assets the ventures will use, which operating model to follow, who sponsors the work, how capital is released and governed, and what happens to a venture that succeeds.
How long does it take to build a corporate venture?
It varies. ADP Ventures reports about ten months to product-market fit and about four years from start to a built venture. TURN8 reports six to nine months from concept to launch for its programs. Timelines depend on approval speed and the type of venture.
Important information
This article is general information about corporate venture building and is not financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Figures are taken from the sources listed below and were checked in October 2026; they may change. Examples and thresholds are illustrative unless stated. Past results do not predict future performance.
Sources
- McKinsey, How CEOs are turning corporate venture building into outsize growth (Global Survey, 22 October 2024)
- McKinsey, How to build businesses faster and better with AI (March 2026)
- McKinsey via Singapore EDB, A new growth priority: venture building
- Global Venturing, Venture building in a silo: Bosch, Arup, Toyota (21 August 2026)
- Global Venturing, LAB7 and Aramco (19 August 2026)
- PwC Middle East, Corporate venture capital in the GCC (2024)
- TURN8, About and Our Approach (company facts and method)
Partner · TURN8
Ahmed Hassan is a Partner at TURN8, the venture operating partner for GCC corporates and sovereign-linked institutions. He leads the firm’s corporate venture offerings, the venture studios, accelerators, and CVC platforms. TURN8 builds and runs for its partners, and owns go-to-market across every engagement.