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How Capgemini Ventures Empowers Innovation Through Startup Ecosystems

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How Capgemini Ventures Empowers Innovation Through Startup Ecosystems
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Streamlined processes
Single source of truth
1000+
startups tracked in 2022
Ecosystem design
enabled through Bloomflow functionalities
+60%
users joined the platform in 2022

Capgemini uses innovation as a pathway to sustainable growth and a better way of working and living. As part of their open innovation strategy, Capgemini Ventures co-creates with external partners to deliver genuine business impact.

Today’s market dynamics present a critical opportunity for business leaders to revisit their strategies. Capgemini believes that many of these solutions will come from disruptive startups. This is supported by their joint research with MIT which found that 44% of firms state that startups will be a top-3 innovation source for them by 2025.

In response, Capgemini Ventures launched Startup Catalyst to identify, qualify and create value-adding partnerships with startups at speed. These solutions are subsequently recommended to clients through their go-to-market offerings or deployed internally to enhance Capgemini capabilities.

Industry:
Food and Mobility
Company:
Bühler
Description

Bühler Group is a global technology company specializing in food and mobility systems, with a focus on creating sustainable solutions through innovation. Their mission is to create innovations for a better world, with a special focus on healthy, safe, and sustainable solutions.

Lucia Sinapi-Thomas - Capgemini
Lucia Sinapi-Thomas - Capgemini
Capgemini Ventures has a dual role of Corporate Venture and open innovation arm of the group when it comes to startup ecosystems. Our operating model aimed at building on collective intelligence, involving our experts for startup qualification, and enabling selected partnership requires adequate processes and proper tool enablement.

Lucia Sinapi-Thomas / Managing Director at Capgemini Ventures

The Challenge

  • The innovation team performed a complete benchmark of innovation platforms existing on the market and chose Bloomflow for XXX reasons (check sales/CS)
  • With their dedicated Customer Success Manager, their clearly defined processes were configured into their Bloomflow platform
  • Bloomflow is now a required tool for the innovation team
  • The platform has gradually opened to more users to
    1. increase the visibility of innovation partnerships
    2. customers of the scouting/innovation teams (check w Tom?)

The Solution

  • The innovation team performed a complete benchmark of innovation platforms existing on the market and chose Bloomflow for XXX reasons (check sales/CS)
  • With their dedicated Customer Success Manager, their clearly defined processes were configured into their Bloomflow platform
  • Bloomflow is now a required tool for the innovation team
  • The platform has gradually opened to more users to
    1. increase the visibility of innovation partnerships
    2. customers of the scouting/innovation teams (check w Tom?)

Ecosystem design
enabled through Bloomflow
1000+
startups tracked in 2022 on Bloomflow
60%
increase in Capgemini users in 2022
Sector
Consulting
Teams
Startup Catalyst
Employees
360,000
Headquarters
Paris, France

Capgemini uses innovation as a pathway to sustainable growth and a better way of working and living. As part of their open innovation strategy, Capgemini Ventures co-creates with external partners to deliver genuine business impact.

Today’s market dynamics present a critical opportunity for business leaders to revisit their strategies. Capgemini believes that many of these solutions will come from disruptive startups. This is supported by their joint research with MIT which found that 44% of firms state that startups will be a top-3 innovation source for them by 2025.

In response, Capgemini Ventures launched Startup Catalyst to identify, qualify and create value-adding partnerships with startups at speed. These solutions are subsequently recommended to clients through their go-to-market offerings or deployed internally to enhance Capgemini capabilities.

Lucia Sinapi-Thomas

Lucia Sinapi-Thomas

Managing Director at Capgemini Ventures
Darren Campbell

Darren Campbell

Startup Catalyst Director at Capgemini Ventures
Ana Esteves

Ana Esteves

Business Ventures Director at Capgemini Ventures

The Challenge

Capgemini recognized that startup ecosystems require different ways of working when compared to their larger tech partners.

They also faced the challenge of managing the breadth of external collaboration across the group. Startups are continuously identified and assessed in response to specific industry needs. This happens both at a global level and locally, through a network of Startup Ecosystem leaders.

They therefore needed a solution that would enable a methodological approach to sharing intelligence across the group. It also needed to be extensible enough to evolve with the growing ambitions and scale of their innovation efforts.

Capgemini Ventures has a dual role of Corporate Venture and open innovation arm of the group when it comes to startup ecosystems. Our operating model aimed at building on collective intelligence, involving our experts for startup qualification, and enabling selected partnership requires adequate processes and proper tool enablement.
Lucia Sinapi-Thomas / Managing Director at Capgemini Ventures

The Solution

Capgemini chose Bloomflow as a partner, internally branded as Rocket Station. It serves as a single source of truth for all startup-related activities across the group and is accessible to all Capgemini employees worldwide.

Startups are added onto the platform from the scouting phase and managed via portfolios which are organized by strategic industry and portfolio offering. This makes it easier to match them up with the business challenges and opportunities faced by their clients or internal departments. In 2022 alone, more than 1,000 startups from 36 countries were uploaded and tracked on their Bloomflow platform.

Now I can map startup ecosystems faster. My team and I were looking for an innovative AI startup, and within a few clicks I was able to find qualified technology partners on our Bloomflow platform to supplement my local scouting efforts.
Maria Messina / Italy Startup Ecosystem Leader at Capgemini Ventures

Capgemini’s ecosystem design activities are also enabled by the platform through the portfolio and project features. This allows Capgemini teams to map out emerging ecosystems more quickly and advise clients on the most promising startups they should be aware of.

Having the possibility to manage our innovation and startup screening approaches on a project basis helps to structure activities. With Bloomflow, the results are easier to access and digest.
Daniel Garschagen / Germany Startup Ecosystem Leader at Capgemini Ventures

A recent example of Startup Catalyst’s scouting activities was addressing problem areas within the new space domain alongside Capgemini Engineering. “This has resulted in us identifying 17 European-based startups who are now being onboarded as collaboration partners,” says Darren. “Some of these are already helping us provide new capabilities to our new space clients.”

The Results

Capgemini teams can now easily harness the latest trends and insights related to startups from around the world. More than 1000 startups were selected to be tracked on their Bloomflow platform, aka Rocket Station, in 2022.

Their platform continues to evolve as new features are enabled to support Capgemini`s evolving co-innovation scope. “After three years working with Bloomflow, I can say that our relationship is much more than a success story between vendor and client,” says Ana. “It is a success case of a large corporation and startup working together.”

The continued rollout of Bloomflow makes it easier than ever to access and deploy new solutions from startups within the group and to shape new joint offerings for clients. As new users continue to join Rocket Station, the value brought by the platform has only increased over time.

According to Darren, “I’m confident that the continued growth and evolution of our ability to work with startups will be underpinned by Bloomflow for years to come.”

Streamlined processes
Single source of truth
1000+
startups tracked in 2022
Ecosystem design
enabled through Bloomflow functionalities
+60%
users joined the platform in 2022
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