More corporates want to work with start-ups, report shows

More corporates are interested in collaborating with start-up businesses, according to a report from accelerator programme MassChallenge.

The report, titled The State of Startup/Corporate Collaboration 2016, surveyed over 200 start-ups and over 100 corporates from across Europe. It found that there is a “fundamental mindset shift” in relationships between start-up businesses and corporations.

Interest

The report highlighted the growing interest in start-ups from corporates, with over 80 per cent of corporates agreeing that new businesses are “somewhat important” to their strategies. Over 20 per cent said that interacting with start-ups is “mission critical.”

Over 60 per cent of corporates said that they prefer working with businesses that are at an early stage so that they can “explore new technologies and business models.”

Start-ups were found to have similar attitudes, with 99 per cent of start-up businesses surveyed saying that they had “some desire” to collaborate with corporates.

Value

Commenting on the research, MassChallenge President Mike LaRhette said: “Because the start-up/corporate relationship is starting much earlier than it had previously, entrepreneurs are finding that they can uncover much more strategic value.”

He added that “more and more corporations are entering the brave new world of engaging with very young start-ups.”

In addition, a report by Nesta that was published with Startups.co.uk last month also showed that more corporates are now investing in working with start-ups. Nesta identified the 25 corporate start-up stars, which included Virgin and Unilever.