Ironically, startups and established companies would both improve their success rates if they collaborated instead of competed. Startups and established companies bring two distinct and equally integral skills to the table. Startups excel at giving birth to successful proof of concepts; larger companies are much better at successfully scaling proof of concepts.

Source: Big Companies Should Collaborate with Startups

Early-stage funding and later-stage M&A is one route. But a collaborative venture, without equity sharing, may actually scale better for everyone.