Business Venture Examples From Leading Venture Studios

Venture studios are an up-and-coming business model lately, but they’ve actually been doing work in the background and launching successful digital ventures for more than a decade.

These studios are able to test, build and iterate on ideas quickly with less fear of failure than your average startup faces. Top venture studios are ultimately better at building profitable startups for a variety of reasons.

One reason is that they have access to a large network of resources and expertise, including experienced entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, and market strategists, which can help startups quickly validate and scale their ideas. They also often have money for startups, which allows them to hire top talent and build out their product or service more quickly.

And let’s not forget, venture studios can also provide a range of operational and strategic support to help startups navigate the complex and competitive landscape of the startup ecosystem. This can help startups to focus on the most important aspects of their business, such as product development, customer acquisition, and revenue growth.

But how do they decide which startups to launch and what are some of the most famous examples of projects and application landscapes coming out of venture studios?

How Venture Studios Decide On Startups To Launch

Venture studios typically have a specific process for deciding which startups to launch. This process can vary depending on the studio, but generally includes the following steps:

1. Idea generation: The venture studio typically generates a large number of ideas for potential startups, either through internal brainstorming sessions or by soliciting ideas from external sources such as entrepreneurs or industry experts.
2. Idea screening: The venture studio then screens the ideas to identify the most promising ones. This can involve conducting market research, assessing the potential size of the market, evaluating the competitive landscape, and determining the feasibility of the idea.
3. Idea validation: The venture studio will then validate the most promising ideas by conducting customer research and testing the product or service with a small group of target customers.
4. Business model development: Based on the results of the validation process, the venture studio will develop a business model and revenue plan for the startup.
5. Team building: The venture studio will then build a team around the startup, usually from their experienced in-house team that has worked on dozens of other projects.
6. Investment: Finally, the venture studio will invest in the startup and provide it with the necessary resources and support to launch and scale the business.

It's worth noting that the process of deciding which startups to launch is not always a linear process and can change as the venture studio gather more information about the startup and its potential for success.

The Biggest Ventures Launched By Venture Studios

Now that we have a better understanding of how venture studios select the projects they plan to launch, let’s dive deeper into the most well-known venture studio project examples and the studios that built them.

UiPath was founded in 2005 and launched by the venture studio Earlybird in 2015. The company specializes in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and has raised over $1 billion in funding. Earlybird is a European venture capital firm and venture studio that was founded in 1997. The firm has invested in over 150 companies across Europe, primarily in the technology, healthcare, and consumer sectors, with a focus on Series A and B rounds. Earlybird is based in Berlin, Germany, and Istanbul, Turkey, but they also have a presence in London, UK.

Earlybird's venture studio model focuses on leveraging its extensive network of resources, expertise, and capital to help startups quickly validate and scale their ideas. The firm provides a range of operational and strategic support to its portfolio companies, including access to its network of entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, and market strategists.

Postmates was founded in 2011 and launched by the venture studio Expa in 2013. The company operates a food and goods delivery service and was acquired by Uber in 2020 for $2.65 billion. Expa is a venture studio and startup accelerator founded in 2013 by Garret Camp, the co-founder of Uber and StumbleUpon. Expa focuses on helping entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful companies by providing them with the resources, expertise, and capital they need to validate and scale their ideas.

Robinhood was founded in 2013 and launched by the venture studio Social Capital in 2013. The company operates an investment platform and has raised over $1 billion in funding.

Social Capital is a venture capital firm and venture studio that invests in and builds healthcare and technology companies. The firm, which was founded in 2011 by Chamath Palihapitiya, aims to invest in and create companies that can improve people's lives through technology. Social Capital's portfolio includes companies in the healthcare, education, and financial services sectors, among others. In addition to traditional venture capital investing, the firm also operates as a venture studio

Flexport was founded in 2013 and launched by the venture studio Founders Fund in 2013. The company operates a digital freight forwarder and has raised over $1 billion in funding. Founders Fund is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 2005 by Peter Thiel, Ken Howery, Luke Nosek, and Brian Singerman. The firm is known for its early investments in companies such as Facebook, SpaceX, and Palantir Technologies. The firm has invested in a wide range of industries, including technology, biotechnology, and energy.

And these are just a few of the examples of venture studio projects that have been made public, and this list is far from exhaustive. Dollar Shave Club is another example of a successful business to have come from the assistance of a venture studio, and it was recently acquired by Unilever for $1 billion.

Building With A Leading Venture Studio

Partnering with a venture studio can offer several advantages for building a startup, including access to exclusive resources, being able to tap into the expertise of the studio’s experienced team, sharing in their infrastructure and so much more.

NineTwoThree Venture Studio is a leading venture studio and mobile development company based in Boston, Massachusetts but serving the globe. We are a venture studio that learned what worked from building 14 internal startups and 60 client apps to one billion dollars, and now have a playbook that can work for building your company.

We help established brands iterate like startups and startups scale like established brands. Partnering with industry leaders and visionary entrepreneurs we focus on profit-producing applications that are a delight to use. We leverage this transformation through the power of agile methodology, design thinking, and impeccable engineering to help our clients rapidly identify and validate new products.

Your app or startup could be next - reach out to us at NineTwoThree Venture Studio today!