A few years ago, if you asked a founder what they thought about corporate capital, the answer would've been simple: slow, bureaucratic and not worth the effort unless they're trying to acquire you. But that's not how it works anymore.

We're now seeing a shift that, frankly, would've seemed strange a decade ago — large corporations acting like VCs. They're not just launching "innovation labs" for show, but building full-blown venture arms, growth studios and capital teams that operate with the same urgency and risk appetite you'd find inside a fund.

The reason?

Growth pressure. Traditional business units aren't delivering returns the way they used to. Meanwhile, startups are moving fast, taking market share and rewriting what "scale" looks like. So the big players are borrowing a page — or several — from the VC playbook.

Related: 5 Ways to Take Advantage of Corporate Venture Capital

A lot of companies used to treat internal innovation as a budgeting exercise. You'd get a yearly plan, a fixed line item and a few people running experiments with no clear ownership.

Now?

Some of the smarter firms are setting up internal "venture funds" — actual capital pools, managed like a portfolio. Projects have to pitch for funding. Milestones matter. If a team doesn't hit targets, the money dries up. If they do, they get more.

This model changes how internal teams behave. When you fund ideas like a VC, the people behind........

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