A CVC can stay active on paper while becoming increasingly irrelevant to the company that owns it.

That was the situation Hans Söhngen stepped into at KPN Ventures. After years of early-stage investing, the fund lacked strong internal anchoring and had too little evidence of the value it was creating for KPN.

In this conversation, Andreas Munk Holm and Jeppe Høier speak with Hans Söhngen, Managing Director at KPN Ventures, about how he helped turn the fund around. The new approach starts with a simple test: why does this investment make sense for KPN?

Hans explains how that question reshaped the portfolio, the companies KPN Ventures backs and the way the team works with business units across KPN.

He also reflects on what he would change about the legacy portfolio, why internal sponsors need to genuinely want a partnership and how strategic relevance can be tested through real commercial activity.

The financial side still matters. Hans discusses how KPN Ventures looks for companies that can contribute strategically while remaining strong investments in their own right.

Portfolio partnerships generated more than €20 million in revenue for KPN last year, and Hans says that figure could nearly double this year.

Highlights

Why KPN Ventures needed to rethink its original model
How Hans rebuilt the fund around value for KPN
The logic every new investment needs to pass
What he learned from managing the legacy portfolio
Why commercial revenue is an important measure of strategic impact
How KPN balances strategic and financial returns
Why internal sponsors need to pull opportunities into the business
What made KPN relevant to ElevenLabs
Why fewer, higher-impact partnerships can create more value

Hans Söhngen (KPN Ventures): Rebuilding a CVC that stopped serving the mothership

EUVC

Hans Söhngen (KPN Ventures): Rebuilding a CVC that stopped serving the mothership