Future of Corporate Venturing: Target Vision Design and Impact Increase for vent.io

Challenge

vent.io was spun off in March 2021 as an independent digital innovation subsidiary of Deutsche Leasing (DL). As the evolution of a unit originally established in 2017, vent.io is responsible for Data Science, Software Engineering, as well as Venture Building and Partnering. The purpose of the spin-off was to gain entrepreneurial freedom in order to search for digital innovations more quickly and flexibly, while strengthening the digital capabilities of the DL Group.

After vent.io had already generated relevant results, the “Next Level vent.io” project addressed the central question of how to further increase the impact of its work and reach the next stage of growth. This included evaluating whether strategies such as closer integration with the core business or developing into the central VC arm of the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe within the corporate group would be viable.

Solution

The approach was based on a focused six-week project plan divided into three phases:

• Phase 1 – Status Quo: Conducting stakeholder interviews with the vent.io team, founders of portfolio companies, and DL stakeholders. The outcome of this phase was a detailed strength architecture outlining strengths, weaknesses, assets, and liabilities, as well as a set of hypotheses for growth levers.
• Phase 2 – Best Practices & Levers: Analysis and adaptation of transferable best practices from other Corporate Venture Capitalists (CVCs). hy leveraged market insights from conversations with more than 50 CVCs. In a prioritization workshop, internal and external growth scenarios were defined.
• Phase 3 – Concrete Measures: Translating insights into a catalog of initiatives, with each initiative scored according to impact and implementation effort.

Impact

The collaboration delivered a comprehensive strategic foundation to successfully elevate vent.io to the next growth level. The central outcome is a detailed strength architecture that precisely maps the unit’s specific strengths, weaknesses, assets, and risks based on qualitative interviews.

Building on this foundation, a new target vision for vent.io 2025 was defined, harmonizing financial performance with strategic value creation for Deutsche Leasing. To operationalize this vision, a catalog of initiatives was developed, with each initiative evaluated using a scoring model based on impact and effort. This enabled clear prioritization of quick wins and strategic initiatives, as well as the deliberate deprioritization of less effective measures.

All recommendations were consolidated into an actionable 24-month roadmap. This roadmap includes concrete work packages, milestones, and implementation recommendations aligned with international CVC best practices. The project concluded with a comprehensive report serving as a strategic guideline for the future scaling of the innovation unit.