Venture studios typically create and grow startups and scaleups by providing resources and expertise, often in exchange for equity or capital investment. However, as well as Vivid Visionthere are studios that operate with an alternative model without providing equity or taking equity, offering instead specialized services (strategy, business validation, product/technology development, execution) to entrepreneurs and corporations. This “no strings attached” approach – i.e. no capital ties or equity dilution for founders – already has several examples in the market today, which supports its viability.
Below we describe several specific cases of venture studios operating under this model, which are an example of the evolution of venture studios and their uniqueness:
Creative Dock is a European venture builder that collaborates with startups and scaleups to create and scale new businesses, without necessarily taking equity participation. With a presence in Europe and the MENA region, it has developed more than 120 projects in sectors such as fintech, insurtech, retail and sustainability. Its approach combines artificial intelligence, product design and agile methodologies to accelerate the launch of solutions to the market.
In addition, Creative Dock has integrated firms such as Spark Works and FoundersLane, expanding its capacity to offer strategic consulting services and physical and digital product development. This model positions it as a key partner for startups looking to grow without diluting their capital.
Highline Beta is a hybrid venture studio and venture capital firm based in the U.S. and Canada that works with startups, corporations and even family offices to build and finance new businesses. Through its Enterprise Innovation Services, it helps companies identify unsolved problems, unexplored markets or underutilized assets, and co-create innovative solutions by applying startup methodologies. Its approach combines hands-on support, market validation and development of new venture studios to accelerate innovation without the need to divest equity, acting as a strategic partner throughout the process of creating, testing and scaling new initiatives.
These are just two examples but they reflect the speed of change of venture studios around the world that are making their way into the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, where it is not only necessary to invest in capital for a startup or scaleup, but also the support of specialized consulting to solve, among others, the growth challenges that startups have.
