Our Journey: building a corporate startup factory

The venture building formula

Entrepreneurship is perceived to be more art than science. It's common knowledge that most startups fail, often because they haven't found a problem worth solving or due to the lack of scaling. We try to reduce the "luck" factor in launching new ventures in two ways:

• Firstly, we ensure the businesses we build solve real, important problems seen by corporations. Big companies act firstly as clients, partners or investors in each venture we build. Together, we can respond to unmet customer needs, changing regulations or leverage potential technology to build new, disruptive business models.

• Secondly, we optimize and master the process of new business creation. Everything from business model design, technology development to the team and legal set-up - we create dedicated, expert shared-service centres. These act like "Formula 1" pit stops, providing the small founding teams with fast & professional services. We set-up new companies each month so we can afford to invest in making each step more predictable and efficient.

The genesis

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Our model has evolved over the last few years, but one thing has not changed - our focus on corporations. We know them inside-out, both their incredible assets and limitations when it comes to launching new ventures in a quick and timely fashion. We believe great value can be co-created by connecting the reach and resources of big companies with the energy and entrepreneurship of startups.

Over the last few years, The Heart has become a corporate centre for digital ventures, bringing together tens of industry leaders like Mastercard, Accor Group or BNP Paribas. All of them are in the process of transforming themselves and their industries. And they know the value of joining forces with others to make this change happen. Thanks to the investment & strategic partnership with Ghelamco our space on the 38th floor of the highest skyscraper in town has become a buzzing digital hub with roundtables and tech demo days. We've done a lot to connect & inspire our members, presenting good practices and recognizing the pioneers in the community through annual "The Heart Corporate Innovation Awards". And we have regularly scouted the European startup ecosystem for future suppliers, disruptors and partners of leading corporations. We’ve also presented a curated selection of "enterprise-ready" solutions to our corporate members.

In all we've done, we've had one goal - to do work that matters and brings results. A win for the corporations and a win for the startups. Having worked closely with our corporate members over the years, we’ve learned how to scout around for the best companies that are able to solve corporate-level problems and alert them on new opportunities that they might otherwise miss.

From connecting to co-creating companies

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Working at the intersection of the two worlds, we increasingly discovered spaces for new ventures. Areas that were important by corporations but overlooked or hidden from entrepreneurs. Problems that were not solved yet, and were waiting for a solution. Together with our corporate members, we have started building new startups addressing those areas with a lack of innovation. As a team of entrepreneurs working closely with large enterprises, we launched The Heart Ventures as a corporate startup factory. The Heart Ventures is a venture building process that allows us to quickly scope, prototype and launch new companies, taking full responsibility for everything, from team to technology.

Our goal is to build 100 businesses with corporations in the coming years.

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It took us less than a year to initiate the first 8 venture-building projects, and new ones are starting each quarter. We are looking forward to building a portfolio of FinTech and RetailTech ventures with our Strategic Partner, Mastercard. More companies also from other industries believe in this model and want to co-create and "excubate" new business ideas while simultaneously growing their ecosystem of future partners and suppliers.

The journey is just beginning...
Let’s join forces to bring new ventures to life.