We Help
Corporations to Innovate
and Startups to Grow

The Case of Konica Minolta

Looking for new business when the old one (printing) declines

Konica Minolta Inc. established innovation hubs in response to the decline in traditional printing business due to the global shift towards digital solutions. The focus was on cross-sell/up-sell services and areas with synergies with current business. It became a key strategic initiative run by HQ strategy unit.

We participated on activities in ASEAN (Singapore) and CEE (Brno) to enrich their R&D portfolio with new ideas and relevant startup solutions.

Strategic vs financial benefits of CVC

Focus was on both: strategic innovation with significant financial impact.

Key outcomes:

• Regular activity in e start-up ecosystem introduced new ideas and services that were implemented, bringing in additional revenue and increased competitiveness.
• It became clear that Konica Minolta must transform from a "box moving company" to a service oriented provider of added-value software solutions.

Positive global impact and company transformation

Tangible results from the innovation program included:

• Set-up of a new SW development team focused on digitization, remote care and monitoring solutions,
• Collaboration with Microsoft to build own DMS connected to Konica Minolta devices,
• Series of M&A and startup acquisitions around the world, incl. WebCom (Microsoft services provider), Mobotix (smart camera systems),
• Partnerships with key players, including startups, in the area of digital solutions (Ysoft, OptimiDoc etc.).

Long term effect

Konica Minolta continues leveraging its globally distributed innovation hubs to understand customer needs, anticipate market trends, and drive growth through digital transformation and new business development.

The Case of Seed Starter

A purely strategic CVC

We launched the Erste Bank's CVC unit in Czechia in 2020 to identify opportunities for increasing revenue with new products, attracting younger clients and optimizing cost structure of the bank’s operations.

At first, the CVC unit reported directly to the CEO, later as the program matured it was managed by the M&A business unit.

Strategic vs financial benefits of CVC

Most CVCs will land somewhere in the middle, but Seed Starter is a 100% strategic investor, targeting seed and pre-seed companies with strong synergies with the bank.

In 3 years Seed Starter invested in 10 companies and set up continuing business cooperation with most of them, creating new product offerings and reducing costs.

CVC increases corporate value

Among the companies that Seed Starter invested in and the bank set up continued cooperation with were:

• Encall brought in new revenue stream from retail customers and improved customer satisfaction.
• Rekenber optimized back office costs, realizing an ROI of >1 already in the 1styear after the investment.
• Barn digital optimized customer service processes and costs, increased customer satisfaction, and discovered many other use cases within the bank

Long term effect

The successful realization of synergies between invested startups and the bank resulted in the extention of the CVC into two other banks of Erste Group.

The Case of HITACHI Ventures

A corporate venturing powerhouse