E611 | EUCVC Summit 2025: Mette Hoberg Tønnesen (CEO, The Link) and Jeppe Høier (EUVC Corporates), moderated by Andreas Munk Holm (EUVC): Building Corporate VC Networks

0:00Corporate venture arms are powerful alone, but unstoppable together. Mehta Hoberg, CEO of The Link, shares how to build and leverage networks between CDCs. From knowledge sharing to co-investment, this is a session about the power of connection and how it's reshaping Europe's corporate venture landscape. I'll be a terrible person and ask this question first to Jeppe actually, which is a bit self-serving. But it's not. It actually, because I think you have a beautiful statement always, which is, I am doing this because I want to solve the problem of CVCs only living for 3.7 years. Yeah. so tell me what role does vc or cbc networks fit into that what what meta is doing at the link is what it's all about right this average lifetime is because we start investing in in cbc not really knowing what's out there and then we need this network to make it happen right So my direct to that is, you know, we need more the Lynx and the MEDEs around us.

1:16Thank you. So MEDE, tell us a bit about how you at the Lynx work to connect CBC startups and VCs in Aarhus. We actually do it nationally, but I'll be happy to elaborate. But I just want to maybe address the same question as you gave to Jebby, because I do this not for the sake of the corporates. I'm sorry for this, guys, but I do this for the sake of the startups. We want to make it as easy as possible for the startups to scale. And one of the ways to do so is by working with all the corporates out there. So we try to see how can we actually make that link, as you addressed, Berger, between the startups and the corporates.

1:53And one of the things that we saw quite early on was that in order to make the link, there is a bit of translation that needs to be done. We need to bring people together, but we also start to sometimes bring down some of the barriers and some of the silos. So often when we talk about corporates going into the startup scene, it becomes a discussion about like CVCs or venture clienting. And we thought if we are to twist it and see this from a startup perspective, what are you guys? You are either investors or your customers. And if we start working that way and including all corporates that invest together with the other investors, it's just a lot easier to make those links.

2:32So for us, it's been a learning curve as well to understand the corporate space. but it really comes down to making the right links and understanding your pain points but also the startups and then less talk more action. But if I can break in here, right, because we now just listen to Nadja and Bjarke on AI, right? So this is where we need the AI, we need the translation of what the link from the startups to the corporates actually does because this corporate is also an animal, right? It moves in all kinds of different directions depending on what they're influenced by. That's the 3.7 years, right?

3:10That's when they die. So we need basically to translate what the startups needs inside of the corporate, right? So tell me both of you, where do corporates fumble the ball? You want me to go? Yeah, you go. As a corporate, you should understand your value contribution to the startups. Be very, very firm in what you can give them, because there's nothing worse than a startup trying to do a pilot with a large corporate, and you work maybe four, six, eight months on a project, and it's not cleared in the end by the corporate, right? Because they actually do not know who signs off on that pilot. So for me, it's a lot about be very, very clear on what you deliver as a corporate to the startups.

4:04I will echo that and also say that often we see that corporates open the doors to the startup fairly early without really knowing where they want to see this goal and what they can actually offer. So you end up wasting the times of the startups, this classic startup theater, which is absolutely the worst situation because the startup could spend their time so much better. And in the end, you as a corporate might not have gained much either. So that side of it. And then when you do come in and you start investing, some of the challenges that we often hear from startups is that because of, at least on paper, the strategic added value that a CBC will add, that sometimes also means that some corporates go in and try to take too much of direction and becomes a maybe too involved investor, which then slow down the agility and all the new things coming out of this startup.

4:57And maybe adding, so if you are thinking about starting a CVC and just from the get-go, right, the classical value adds are, you know, leverage our asset, brand, customer, data, and expertise, right? But maybe you start with the easy ones, right? Start with the brand, start with the expertise. Wait a little bit about utilizing assets. The customer part is really, really difficult to do. So I think and most have not cracked the data not right and and and Bjarke can can talk about that forever So I often say that venture can be likened to High school because everything is about networks. Everything is about who are the best can you rub shoulders with the best and I'd be curious to ask you.

5:45How do you think that corporates best understand the networking side of venture and act in it?

5:55whether you're a CVC or you're a venture capital firm, you need to be out there. You need to be where the startups are. You need to meet them at their territories. And Tech Barbecue is an amazing spot to do so. And I know that this investor track has great attention because you want to rub shoulders with like-minded and all of that. But I don't hope that this is on the cost of actually being at Tech Barbecue and some of the other amazing startup events. You need to be there and you need to meet them because they can give you inputs and vice versa. So it's just get out in it, jump in the water.

6:28I would like to differentiate my answer a little bit because if you are a CVC investing late stage, having a huge fund, right? You can actually sit and wait a little bit for the startups to come to you, right? You still have to be aware, especially when you are in this AI defense, right? Because valuations are skyrocketing like in zero point time, right? And so if you're there, I think late stage, you can sit and wait. Early stage investing in seed, Series A, super, super difficult for a CVC, right? Because the rumors from the people upstairs is not that polite about us in this room, right? They think we behave a little bit different than they do.

7:09I don't agree to that. So, you know, the way that I've spent my time is I've been sitting on an awful lot of bars till the early mornings, discussing with founders about their products and showing them who I am and where I came from. You worry about? Oh, it's actually just to mention a few things. Yesterday I had a really, really good talk with the ex-founder of Humio, so a large exited company in Denmark. And what Kressen was saying was that if we are to change the world and move forward, there might be a bad rumor about corporates engaging with startups, but you guys actually have the solutions for the future.

7:47Because so often the amazing startups we have in Denmark end up exiting to the US and only do so because they're not, or at least from their side, too many options in Europe. So if we were to see even more staying in Europe and we were to move out of the dilemma between the US and China, it simply lies right here with all the amazing European corporate come in there, go in and actually start engaging with this and be the alternative to the US. So even though the rumors might be bad, we might actually sit here with the keys to the solution. And the solution is here, right? Because when we go to the value creation part, the ABCDE part, right?

8:28If you get that right, you will be known in the ecosystem as the corporate that delivers value above money, right? Because that is where the key is in this room. We are so much better at doing what we do in this game. It's just understanding how we unlock that value. So let me go ahead and take the final word. I'm sorry about that. But you just said we need to engage corporates. You should be engaging with startups. I completely agree. However, Tech Barbecue has done you all, all of you corporates in here, a huge favor. because they've taken all the traditional LPs and put them in somewhere else in Copenhagen today, which means that you have that room up there all to yourselves.

9:18And they are all VCs out there grinding every single day. I don't think there's much reason for a substantial corporate that wants to get into venture to not be exploring very seriously LP investing, meaning putting money with funds so that you can look them over their shoulder, tap into their networks and so on. So while we don't have founders here today, we have the next best thing, which are the VC founders up there. And they are hungry as fuck for your money. So with those words, have a great day. We've got a couple of more panels and then go and get them.