It’s no secret that Venture Capital firms work tirelessly to identify future unicorns, often competing fiercely with their peers once they’ve uncovered an opportunity to invest in the most promising new start-ups.
The vast majority of VC dollars still go into privately launched companies, but as universities and large corporates ramp up efforts to launch their own breed of start-ups, VCs are paying closer attention. Frequently imbued with exceptional IP, experienced technicians, and access to “unfair advantages” courtesy of the mothership, spin-outs (sometimes known as spin-offs) are increasingly seen as attractive investment opportunities. This is especially true for capital-intensive hardware ventures in energy, manufacturing, or mining, where credible de-risking roadmaps can make all the difference.
Corporate spin-outs in particular are claiming to be VC-friendlier than ever. The days are largely gone when corporations demanded oversized equity stakes or clung to special IP rights that hindered start-up growth. This reflects more than changing deal terms—it’s the result of deliberate learning. Over the past decade, corporates and incubators have codified what makes a spin-out investable. Reviews such as the UK’s Spin-out Review, BCG’s venturing playbooks, and McKinsey’s scaling frameworks have pushed large organisations to simplify IP agreements, reduce equity grabs, and adopt leaner governance. It could be said that corporate venture building is maturing as a growth tool.
Whilst some investors still question whether ex-corporate founders have the grit of “true entrepreneurs,” evidence to the contrary is growing. In its 2025 industry report, Global Corporate Venturing examined a decade of Pitchbook data and found that corporate-backed start-ups are half as likely to enter insolvency as their independent peers, while frequently exiting at higher multiples. This reflects the growing maturity of corporate venture capital: clearer governance, stronger leadership practices, and structured pilot pathways are steadily improving outcomes and making spin-outs look increasingly like VC-grade ventures.
TDK Ventures recently co-led the seed round for Tulum Energy, a methane pyrolysis spin-out from steelmaking equipment manufacturer Tenova. Investment director David Delfassy says, “examples like this show how resources from the mothership can supercharge corporate spin-outs with advanced operational capabilities and game changing credibility. We would welcome more corporate spin-out investment opportunities like this.”
Investment Manager Timo Bertsch from the German VC HTGF (High-Tech Gründerfonds) emphasizes that their recent investment in Factor 2 Energy, a geothermal spin-out from Siemens Energy, was particularly compelling because “spin-offs like this often come with significantly de-risked technologies and well-validated development roadmaps, offering a clear technical advantage in high-risk, capital-intensive fields such as climate and deep tech.”
Corporate spin-outs in energy: what the data shows
Curious about energy spin-outs in particular, Siemens Energy Ventures and Net Zero Insights decided to dive deeper into this capital-intensive niche. Using data from the Net Zero Insights platform, we compared the performance of 11 corporate energy spin-outs to 53 of their non-corporate-backed peers.
Though the cohort is small, we believe it is representative of climate-focused ventures. We began with two sources: spin-outs already tracked on the NZI platform and a screening of spin-outs from the top 45 global utilities and energy companies by market capitalization. This process identified 31 additional spin-outs, nine of which fell into the energy transition space. Combining both datasets gave us 24 companies, which we narrowed to those already VC-backed or clearly “VC-backable,” yielding a final sample of 11. For each, we selected up to five direct competitors of similar stage and focus, producing 53 peers and a total dataset of 64 ventures.
This structured approach highlights meaningful differences between spin-outs and peers. The comparison revealed three consistent advantages for corporate spin-outs over their peers:
- Faster capital raising: corporate spin-outs secure their first equity round in under a year on average (0.97 years), compared to 2.6 years for peers. Within two years they raise nearly three times more ($16.1M vs. $5.6M), and they are slightly more likely to reach late-stage funding (18% vs. 15%).
- Stronger and quicker exits: spin-outs are significantly more likely to achieve a successful exit – 36% versus 21% of peers – and they do so almost twice as fast, in 4.9 years on average compared to 9.7 years.
- Accelerated customer acquisition: spin-outs reach their first customer 56% faster (3.5 vs. 8.0 years), and secure a first major customer nearly twice as quickly (2.8 vs. 5.5 years). This advantage is particularly valuable in capital-intensive energy sectors where early validation is critical.
VC perspectives on corporate spin-outs
To complement the data, Siemens Energy Ventures interviewed several deeptech and climate VCs about their experiences with corporate spin-outs. Their responses underscored both the promise and the pitfalls.
On the positive side, VCs praised spin-outs for de-risked technology roadmaps, access to corporate supply chains, and early customer networks – advantages independent start-ups often lack. Teams were described as technically mature, drawing on deep industrial R&D expertise.
At the same time, investors flagged recurring concerns: unclear cap tables, founders with weak equity incentives, and corporate rights over IP or equity that complicate future funding or exits. While corporate backing can accelerate credibility, it can also impose constraints if not carefully structured.
Asked about founder quality, Max Werny of Zero Carbon Capital reflects on the possibility that “those who’ve just left their corporate job can be incredibly talented managers, but they will need to combat preconceptions and biases which VCs may
have regarding their entrepreneurial “grit””. He goes on to suggest that “founder teams could sometimes benefit from the inclusion of external founders, ideally ex-entrepreneurs, with relevant commercial and industry expertise”. Carolina Villa of Nucleus Capital takes this idea a step further, pointing out that “no matter how brilliant spin-out founders are, we need proof that they can fundraise also in later stages. This hasn’t been the case with all corporate spin-outs we’ve reviewed”.
A challenge frequently named by VCs is perceived lack of ownership for founding teams. Extantia’s Paola Brenni summarizes this well, saying that “we haven’t always seen that spin-out management teams are properly incentivized with enough equity.” Whilst spin-outs like Tulum Energy and Factor 2 Energy were clearly able to design attractive cap tables for all involved, insights like Paola’s demonstrate the need for carefully considered equity ownership structures which can scale beyond seed rounds.
Taken together, the interviews reinforce the data: corporate spin-outs carry structural advantages, but their venture potential depends on aligning corporates, founders, and outside investors from the start.
The future of energy spin-outs and VC investment
Corporate spin-outs are not a guaranteed recipe for success. Their absolute numbers remain relatively low, and many corporates are still refining how to balance strategic objectives with investor expectations. Yet for VCs, this represents less a risk than an underexplored opportunity—particularly in energy, where spin-outs offer credibility, faster de-risking, and accelerated paths to scale.
As part of ongoing efforts to build this dialogue, Siemens Energy Ventures and Net Zero Insights will co-host a panel discussion at the upcoming InnoEnergy TBB event (21-23 October 2025, Lisbon). The session will share further insights, concrete examples, and opportunities to engage directly with investors, founders, and corporates with deep spin-out experience.
Submit the form below, if you are interested in receiving the presentation and/or learning more about how to promote collaboration as a VC, Corporate, or CVC, please reach out.
About the authors
Trent Greenland: with 20+ year experience building technology start-ups as a founder, mentor, and advisor, Trent is currently a venture architect within the Siemens Energy Ventures team where business building activities deliver in spin-ins as well as VC-friendly spin-outs which accelerate the energy transition.
Sergio Rodriguez Barnuevo: Master’s student at TUM in Mechatronics, Robotics, and Biomechanical Engineering. For over a year, he has supported the Siemens Energy Venture Building team as a working student, deepening his expertise in market intelligence, spin-out research, and emerging technologies.
Federico Cristoforoni: Founder of Net Zero Insights, launched in 2019 to provide the most comprehensive market intelligence platform for the net-zero economy. With a background in finance and analysis, he has grown NZI into a leading source of data-driven insights for investors, corporates, and policymakers navigating the energy transition.
Pooneh Amini Naeini: Junior Analyst at Net Zero Insights, working closely with customers to deliver actionable climate tech insights. With a background in environmental engineering, she supports research and market intelligence on emerging technologies and ventures driving the net-zero transition.
