EUVC E605 | EUCVC Summit 2025: Jesper Bang Olsen, BEAM & Kerk Wichmann, Jungheinrich: Incubating startups
Welcome back to the EUCVC Summit Talks, where we bring you behind-the-scenes conversations with the founders, corporates, and investors shaping Europe’s venture collaboration landscape.
In this episode, Jeppe Høier sits down with Jesper Bang Olsen, Partner at BEAM, and Kerk Wichmann, VP of Corporate Strategy at Jungheinrich and Managing Partner at Uplift Ventures. Together, they unpack the realities of corporate venture building: why corporates need to separate venture initiatives from the mothership, how to anchor strategically, and what it takes to balance startup agility with industrial scale.
From governance and champions to customer infiltration and fast decision-making, this is a candid look at how leading corporates are building real ventures—not just innovation playgrounds.
🎧 Here’s what’s covered
00:19 Why Uplift Ventures was born—responding to Chinese competition and software-driven disruption.
01:00 Why ventures fail inside the mothership—rules, governance, and slow cycles.
03:00 Jesper’s story: from DVDs wiped out by Spotify to creating BEAM as a venture builder.
04:00 Value triggers at BEAM—finding good niche problems, anchored near but not inside the core.
05:00 Anchoring strategy: why top management commitment is non-negotiable.
06:00 Balancing two worlds—leveraging 6,000 service engineers and 2,000 sales reps while learning startup speed.
07:00 Secret sauce at BEAM—separation from the corporate, but with champions inside who love the speed.
08:00 Customer infiltration—winning over corporate clients directly to create positive friction.
09:00 Venture governance—independent venture board, external members, and strict stage-gate decisions.