yet2

yet2

yet2 began in 1999 as a technology-transfer marketplace funded by eight corporate sponsors including Venrock, 3i, DuPont, Procter & Gamble, Honeywell, Caterpillar, NTT Leasing, Bayer, and Siemens. Its original model focused on patent out-licensing before shifting toward technology acquisition with the launch of the “TechNeed” in 2007. That pivot turned the firm into a structured open-innovation consultancy that scouted external technologies for the Global 1000, laying the groundwork for the investment fund that followed. yet2Ventures, the firm’s investment arm, was launched from a Wilmington, Delaware office and structured as a direct-secondaries and early-stage vehicle. It targeted corporate-originated opportunities — technologies developed inside large enterprises that needed external capital and independence to reach market. The fund’s investment stages span seed through late-stage venture, and its sector coverage mirrors the consultancy’s innovation-scouting strengths: chemicals and materials, consumer goods, energy and resources, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing. By 2016, the firm reported that yet2Ventures had exceeded $50 million in assets under management. The consultancy operates from five offices: Waltham, Massachusetts; Liverpool and Nottingham in the United Kingdom; and Tokyo. Its team is led by Tim Bernstein, Edward de Paz, and Fujii Hideyuki. The yet2Ventures fund was spun out to Chartline Capital, operating independently of yet2’s open-innovation consulting services. In 2024, yet2 secured a renewal of its exclusive five-year scouting contract with NASA, a client it has served for over a decade. What separates yet2 from a standard venture platform is the sourcing model: the investment pipeline was built on top of a consultancy that already had commercial relationships with roughly half the Fortune 500. That gave yet2Ventures an early look at carve-out opportunities that generic venture firms wouldn't see. The separation of the fund from the consultancy under Chartline Capital preserves that sourcing advantage while removing balance-sheet or mandate conflicts that might deter corporate sellers from working with the scouting unit.