The CVC Unplugged podcast is a weekly show that brings you fascinating and wide-ranging conversations with leading corporate venture capital investors, subject matter experts, startup founders, journalists and other market participants to keep you informed of the most important trends affecting early-stage investing.

Hosted by Global Corporate Venturing's Fernando Moncada Rivera, guests dive into strategy, market movements and drivers, best practices, macro trends and much more.

New episodes are available every Monday on your favourite audio platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, or wherever else you get your podcasts.

Latest Episodes

  • Thumbnail for Torq hopes to replicate Brazil’s fintech success across LatAm

    Torq hopes to replicate Brazil’s fintech success across LatAm

    Latin America has always been fertile ground for fintech innovation and growth. Combining a young, tech-savvy population and a relative under-penetration of financial services you may see in other developed markets, there is plenty of opportunity for startups to feast on.

    Listen now
  • Thumbnail for Best Nights VC wants people to meet in real life again

    Best Nights VC wants people to meet in real life again

    Nightlife has changed in recent years. It’s not just the macro-effects of the pandemic – with higher costs of living and young people having less disposable income – but their preferences are also evolving.

    Listen now
  • Thumbnail for How to get first-of-a-kind cleantech projects off the ground

    How to get first-of-a-kind cleantech projects off the ground

    We’ve got a bit of a different episode again this week – Fernando sits down with GCV’s editor-in-chief Maija Palmer, who asks him some questions about a recent report he wrote for GCV’s Global Energy Council on the topic of getting first-of-a-kind cleantech technologies and projects of the ground.

    Listen now
  • Thumbnail for M&A and liquidity making a slower comeback in healthcare, but CVCs are stepping up to the plate

    M&A and liquidity making a slower comeback in healthcare, but CVCs are stepping up to the plate

    At the beginning of the year, I spoke to Bill Taranto, president of the MSD Global Health Innovation Fund about what he expected over the course of the year in the healthcare space. He had predicted that M&As would make a moderate comeback and more liquidity would be coming into the market from private equity firms, and that we would see a wave of consolidations taking shape as smaller “point solutions” get integrated into larger platforms.

    Listen now
  • Thumbnail for While others are cautious in a slower Brazilian market, L4 wants to be greedy

    While others are cautious in a slower Brazilian market, L4 wants to be greedy

    The past year has not been the most active for the Brazilian CVC market. High interest rates, lack of sufficient liquidity, and decreased dealflow, among other things, have all slowed it down relative to past years. But that is not true across the board. Some funds, like, L4 Venture Builder – the single-LP fund backed by Brazil’s main stock exchange, B3 – have been investing a lot since it officially launched early in 2023.

    Listen now
  • Thumbnail for How Olympus Innovation Ventures is looking into the human body

    How Olympus Innovation Ventures is looking into the human body

    To fix things in the human body, you have to see them. This is what Olympus does. The legendary Japanese camera-maker, which in recent years divested its camera business and went full-tilt into medical devices, retains its core strength of optics and doubling down in its application to medicine.

    Listen now
  • Thumbnail for Opening a new CVC office in the US is not easy – here’s how Lotte Ventures is doing it

    Opening a new CVC office in the US is not easy – here’s how Lotte Ventures is doing it

    With Lotte Group’s expansion into biotech, it wanted its CVC, Lotte Ventures, to set up a new office in the world’s largest biotech innovation ecosystem, the US, with a new – 3-person team in the Bay Area. But going into a new market is never a walk in the park.

    Listen now
  • Thumbnail for The US healthcare system has a huge resource shortage. Here’s how small and medium-sized investors can help plug the gap.

    The US healthcare system has a huge resource shortage. Here’s how small and medium-sized investors can help plug the gap.

    The group of smaller and medium-sized investors has been growing, and their value has never been clearer to founders and co-investors. They tend not to seek M&As, neutralising a concern that some startups have about having corporates on their cap table, while still bringing the advantage of corporate connections. They often place an even heavier emphasis on the health of the investment syndicate, as they may be in a worse position than larger funds if things fall through, and they often opt, for example, for observer seats over board seats. All in all, they are team players who can still open very important doors.

    Listen now
  • Thumbnail for Petcare will be a half-trillion-dollar market in the next decade, and its not just treats and toys

    Petcare will be a half-trillion-dollar market in the next decade, and its not just treats and toys

    If you have a pet, you will no doubt have come across one of Mars Petcare’s brands – Pedigree, Whiskas, Iams, Royal Canin, and many others – it is the biggest company in a global petcare market which, depending on what figures you look at, stood at around $250bn last year and is en-route to nearly half a trillion over the next decade.

    Listen now
  • Thumbnail for Radical change is needed to fix CVC’s gender problem. Here are some ideas.

    Radical change is needed to fix CVC’s gender problem. Here are some ideas.

    Today I’m talking to my colleague Angela Logan, news and production editor at GCV. Angela recently had a very interesting interview with Nichola Bates, head of global accelerators and innovation programmes at Boeing (which you can read here) in which Bates spoke about what it’s been like to be a woman in the corporate VC industry, how in the past there were times when she wasn’t taken seriously, or been undervalued – an experience that many, many women can relate to in the professional context – and how she’s trying to run the unit she leads differently, and hopefully in a way that also disrupts the wider corporate culture.

    Listen now