Bosch to Invest €200 Million in Its Innovation Arm

To expand its innovation landscape, Bosch will invest around €200 million in its subsidiary Business Innovations over the next five years. As a corporate venture builder, the unit develops new business ideas beyond Bosch’s current core business and builds startups from the early stages onward. The aim is to systematically bring these to market maturity and also to develop new leading business models for Bosch.

To this end, the company has defined business areas in line with the Bosch strategy in which investments are to be prioritized and in which the market dynamics are an optimal match for its competencies and technological expertise. The first of these is software-defined manufacturing, remote health monitoring, and the capture, use, and storage of greenhouse gases. Further business areas will be added over the next four years to have 20 successful startups in operation by 2030.

“We have always continued to develop by identifying and investing in new technologies early and decisively – because innovation is our most important currency. We’re now significantly strengthening Bosch Business Innovations with financial resources so that new ideas have a home and the space to develop,” said Stefan Hartung, chairman of the board of management of Bosch. Axel Deniz, CEO of Bosch Business Innovations, adds: “We aim to systematically develop new ideas beyond our current core business. To achieve this, we rely on Bosch’s strengths, in particular its technological expertise and patent power. We combine this structural advantage of a large company with the speed and flexibility of the startup world.”

To bring both worlds together in an optimal way, Bosch Business Innovations relies on a partnership model. It joins with experienced venture studios to build new business ideas from scratch and bring them quickly to market maturity. Bosch thus combines its own strengths – from technological expertise and patent power to industrial scaling – with the deployment speed and venture-building expertise of external partners. This creates a model in which opportunities and risks are deliberately shared, and innovations are systematically put into implementation.

The focus is on the founders: Bosch Business Innovations is also open to external entrepreneurs in particular and gives them a crucial head start. They are involved in the company at an early stage, take on responsibility, and play an active role in shaping the startup from the very beginning. In addition, external investors are involved early on so as to tap into additional capital and market access. The approach is supported by specialized partners who contribute market and technology trends and facilitate access to international startup ecosystems.