Is Corporate VC hurting PE?

PE investors are no strangers to competition. Fellow PEGs and strategic buyers have been around since the beginning, and family offices and fundless sponsors are fast becoming significant players in the middle market. A new hybrid competitor is starting to flex its muscle, almost undetected by the broader industry: corporate VC. Corporate venture teams aren’t really new—outfits like Intel Capital and Google Ventures have been investing for years, mostly in well-heeled tech startups outside of PE’s purview. Over time, however, blue-chip corporate players have caught on to potentially additive benefits of CVC investing in retail, energy, telecommunications and healthcare, to name a few. Among the most active names since 2010: