A joint venture (JV) is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets. There are other types of companies such as JV limited by guarantee, joint ventures limited by guarantee with partners holding shares.

In European law, the term 'joint-venture' (or joint undertaking) is an elusive legal concept, better defined under the rules of company law. In France, the term 'joint venture' is variously translated as 'association d'entreprises', 'entreprise conjointe', 'coentreprise' or 'entreprise commune'. But generally, the term societe anonyme loosely covers all foreign collaborations. In Germany, 'joint venture' is better represented as a 'combination of companies' (Konzern).

With individuals, when two or more persons come together to form a temporary partnership for the purpose of carrying out a particular project, such partnership can also be called a joint venture where the parties are "co-venturers".