(US and Canada) Global venture capital firm Cathay Innovation announced the launch of C.Lab, a new strategic advisory arm dedicated to bridging the world’s leading corporations to open innovation in Silicon Valley and other global tech ecosystems. The open innovation lab is led by Matthieu Soulé and Arnaud Auger, who joined Cathay Innovation from BNP Paribas, where they spent the last decade advising large corporate clients from around the globe on their innovation and business strategies from San Francisco.

C.Lab’s mission is to support corporations in driving new business activities and innovation — for long-term growth, resilience, and the sustainable transformation of their organizations. It aims to help corporate executives shape their innovation strategies, while understanding and navigating the latest technology trends and biggest opportunities across industries.

“In the AI era, the focus has shifted from disruption to transformation, making it mission critical for startups and large corporations to form deeper collaborations,” said Denis Barrier, Co-Founder of Cathay Innovation. “We’ve always taken an ecosystem approach in our venture capital practice, connecting startups to our strategic industry partners for mutual growth and opportunities. C.Lab represents a natural progression, expanding our services and value to corporations — recognizing that both sides of the ecosystem are absolutely essential for true transformation.”

The launch comes as AI continues to reshape industries and traditional business models, with Silicon Valley recognized as the epicenter of this transformation. As the home of large tech giants and the AI capital of the world, attracting $117B of venture capital funding for AI startups since 2014 (three times of all of Europe in the same period per pitchbook data), the San Francisco Bay Area drives innovation crucial for industry competitiveness. As AI advances rapidly, corporations outside this hub face an urgent need to adopt new technologies and best practices or risk falling behind.

C.Lab offers a range of advisory services, including:

• Tech Startup & Partner Scouting: identifying key relevant startups or technology players to partner with, invest in, or acquire pending business needs

• Strategic Studies : Deep dive on new business opportunities and go-to-market strategies for new products and services

• Business Development & Operational Support: immersive experiences testing new technologies, meeting relevant startups and industry players addressing top priorities of executive committees and board members to accelerate and transform their business. The team will also leverage Cathay Innovation’s existing VC platform to operationally catalyze strategic partnerships between corporates and startups

• Insight Webcast: executive insights breaking down analysis of key trends and business implications

“Corporations are increasingly looking to transform their organizations with the help of external partners and emerging startups— open innovation, or rather open transformation, is accelerating through partnerships, joint ventures, alliances with peers, minority investments, and M&A,” said Matthieu Soulé, Head of C.Lab at Cathay Innovation. “The challenge comes down to access to the best players and the lack of a holistic view of technology trends beyond the industry in which they operate. With the addition of C.Lab to Cathay’s existing global investment practice, we aim to bridge this gap and be the hub where international corporations meet startups and innovation from Silicon Valley and beyond.”

Based out of Cathay Innovation’s existing San Francisco office, the C.Lab team will work with corporations from Europe, North America, Asia and Latin America in the fields of financial services, healthcare, energy, mobility, real estate, retail, luxury and more. The advisory group complements Cathay Innovation’s multi-stage venture capital practice, which will continue to invest in startups transforming industries and society across the world.