Analyzing the Top Corporate VCs By Exits — And How Early They Got In

Corporate venture capital groups now participate in roughly 1 of every 5 venture capital deals. But while corporate VCs are playing a more prominent role in the VC ecosystem overall, how are they faring on the exit front?

Using CB Insights data, we highlighted and analyzed the 5 largest portfolio exits for each of the top 10 corporate VCs by total exits since 2010. Leading the list is Intel Capital, with well over 100 IPO or M&A exits realized over the period. Google Ventures, a prolific investor that recently slowed its activity, takes second. Finally, Motorola Solutions Venture Capital rounds out the top three.

Peeling back by size of exits, Google Ventures notably saw all 5 of its largest exits to date top the $1B+ mark. Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures each saw three of their portfolio companies — among them Waze, Fitbit, Box, and Virtustream — exit for $1B+ since 2010.

(**Comcast Ventures’ exits since 2010 included those realized by Comcast Interactive Capital).

Stage of entry

While corporate VCs have found their way into some of venture’s largest recent exits, few were early-stage investments. As the chart below highlights, corporate venture firms tend to place their first investments in their largest exits at the mid-stage or later. Comcast Ventures is the single exception having entered four of its exited companies, including Fullscreen and Vitrue, at the early stage. All of Google Ventures’ billion-dollar exits were of companies it had initially invested in at the mid- or late-stage.

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