Scouting for Growth
There are over 180,000 FinTech ventures out there today.
My team tracks 7.3 million of them across markets every single week.
But the number that matters isn't the one that's growing. It's the one that isn't.
Only 25% of these ventures have secured funding and meaningful backing.
The other 75% aren't just looking for capital. They're looking for access, credibility, and partnerships with the institutions that can turn a great product into real-world impact.
This is Scouting for Growth. I'm Sabine VanderLinden. I lead Alchemy Crew Ventures, and I built the Venture-Client Model for regulated industries... the model where a growth venture earns a corporation as its customer before a VC writes the cheque. When that sequence works, it changes the equation for everyone: founders, corporates, and the investors watching from both sides of the table.
Each episode, I bring a founder, an operator, or an institutional leader to the table for the conversation that usually happens behind closed doors: about how corporates really think, how capital really flows, and what it actually takes to build, grow, and scale in a world where the boundaries between FinTech, InsurTech, HealthTech, and AI are dissolving by the month.
This isn't theory. Our conversations should bring you the strategy, the tactics, and the hard-won clarity from people who control capital and collaboration.
If you're navigating this ecosystem — as a founder, an operator, or a leader — this conversation is for you.
Listen in. Challenge what you thought you knew. And join us.
Listen on:
Episodes
Saturday Jan 01, 2022
Saturday Jan 01, 2022
In this episode, Sabine VdL describes what corporate venturing is and what it entails, how it can help startups and entrepreneurs, why there is an increased drive towards corporate venturing today and the best strategies to deploy VC programmes.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
With corporate venturing, large companies develop, sponsor or invest in startup companies from the earliest stages of formation to later stages of growth to identify emerging technologies and develop cutting-edge customer-driven solutions that can resist the effects of time.
The central point is that a startup company is evaluated and then funded by the corporate venture capital arm of the established business. This works well to shake off protocol and bureaucracy which can weigh down innovation when a parent company gets involved in partnership and investment decisions.
Venture Capitalists (VCs) are experts at the money side of things where they focus on the financial objectives, whereas the corporate venturing team draws expertise from finance but also from strategy and industry, with their fingers on the pulse of emerging trends, opportunities, and risks.
Young startup businesses can benefit tremendously from accessing the distribution, assets, core capabilities including the global resources and infrastructure of the big guns. If those established companies have well-defined processes in place, they can facilitate the education of internal stakeholders alongside startup founders on how best their solutions could scale within one or multiple geographies while providing effective mentorship. They can also find a paved path to access specific customer markets and growth. In industries such as insurance, dominated by large players, this is especially important.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Corporate venturing has some similarities to what R&D is in many industries.’
‘Corporate venturing also has some similarities to Venture Capital funding.’
‘There will always be some great CVCs and less great CVC units out there.’
‘80% of startups fail.’
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures
Saturday Jan 01, 2022
Saturday Jan 01, 2022
I just thought I would explain… Why Scouting for Growth?
I have been fortunate to work with Tech ventures over the past six years that are changing the worlds of insurance, finance, health, and wealth, to name but a few.
And to accelerate great companies, one needs to understand a little bit about "business."
I have been fascinated with building growth ecosystems for the past six years. Getting my ventures to collaborate better and faster. At the same time, I have been driven by the potential of enabling my corporate partners to collaborate better with tech ventures while enabling those growth ventures with the greatest potential to engage with the many investors who gave me their trust.
"Scouting For Growth" is the underlying premise for both … Venture Capitalists and Corporate "Venturists!" One side is looking for financial returns mostly from investing in start-up ventures. The other side tries to balance both financial and strategic returns. And often create unnecessary tech bubbles through the process.
Anyway, I want to demystify through this podcast series two important processes that yield strong financial outcomes though 1) partnership, 2) investment, but then leading to 3) growth and 4) scale.
First, Scouting For Growth is about scouting for ventures: or identifying and nurturing startups that are aligned to major market problems. The outcome sought may mostly be partnerships and collaborations but also longer-term investment opportunities for the many.
Second, Scouting For Growth is about building ventures: or creating and designing new customer value propositions supported by disruptive business models able to solve some of the most complex challenges we need to contend with today.
Hopefully, the lessons learnt will ensure that we gather the right tools and techniques to build the growth business of tomorrow.
You will also find that… I am French. I have been in the UK for 30 years. I am fortunate to work every day with some renowned international companies. But despite my great English I still and often drop my “ses” and count in French. I hope you won’t mind. You can take the French gal out of France. But rarely will you change her truly!
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
Tuesday Dec 21, 2021
Hi, I am Sabine VanderLinden – Many of my friends call me Mrs VdL.
I have been in business for over 25 years. I worked for highly respected, well-known blue-chip companies. And 6 years ago, I decided to take the entrepreneurial and investor route and ran a very well-known acceleration program for early-stage startups in Europe and the United States, while also engaging with investors and corporations in Asia, Africa, and LATAM.
Yes. I know. Five continents in 5 years. 70 startups accelerated during that period. Lots of Airmiles. $100 million invested in accelerated portfolios. And certainly, lots of learning.
Since then, my team and I have scouted over 20,000 ventures to help both corporates and investors identify new sources of growth.
I want to dedicate this podcast to the founders, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, investors, corporate fighters, and change-makers who, over the years, have given me their time, patience, and trust.
We will, together, demystify the world of corporate venturing.
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at hello@alchemycrew.ventures