Japan-based semiconductor and display equipment maker Tokyo Electron (TEL) named Kay Enjoji president of its corporate venturing unit, TEL Venture Capital (TVC), in July 2011 and promoted him to vice-president of corporate technology strategy at TEL in January 2017.
TVC’s investment scope includes innovative technologies impacting TEL’s core semiconductor and advanced display, to photonics and optics, sensors, life sciences, healthcare, medical electronics and other areas.
The unit is not only keen on backing startups for financial returns but also product and business development perspective. Enjoji’s dual role as president of TVC and vice-president of TEL allows him to identify new business strategies for the corporation and implement them through venture investments and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
Enjoji, with more than three decades of semiconductor industry experience under his belt, runs partnership programs and conducts M&A deals with portfolio companies after investments.
With strong demand for chips, TEL has been seeing record results while TVC made many investments including US-based crystal materials producer Light Polymers in 2017.
For 2020’s outlook, Enjoji told Global Corporate Venturing that he was focusing on any emerging technology such as storage class memory and neuromorphic devices. Earlier this year, TVC backed magnetic device-focused testing equipment producer Hprobe.
In addition, TVC has had many successful exits out of the deals done. In December 2018, networking equipment provider Cisco agreed to acquire fabless semiconductor technology producer Luxtera. The acquisition was completed in two months’ time, with Cisco paying $660m in cash and assuming Luxtera’s outstanding equity awards.
Another notable exit for the unit was on-demand disinfection chemistry system manufacturer Miox which was acquired by electrochemical technologies provider De Nora and took place also in February 2019.
Enjoji, who sits on the boards of Floadia, Light Polymers, Tsukuba-Seiko, Alberta Nano-Monitoring Systems, Innovative Particle-Monitoring Technologies, Opt Creation, Liola, Genalyte, EnerVault, Crystal Solar, Tau-Metrix and Quantum 14, said in 2017 that more deals would be coming, adding the unit had doubled its funds.
Enjoji manages a team of more than 10 people in Japan, the US, France and Israel making strategic investments for TEL to impact its core semiconductor and advanced display, to photonics and optics, sensors, and life sciences, healthcare and medical electronics.
He has a wider remit as head of the innovative technology planning group to manage collaborations with startups. All its investments are expected to lead to joint business development projects, saying he looks for “good multi-return” for both financial exit and business creation.
Enjoji was previously a director of TEL’s microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) division for more than seven years from 2003, having instigated new businesses such as through-silicon via (TSV) process equipment, advanced probe card and MEMS tester.
Before that, he had held a senior manager of corporate marketing role for three and a half years since 2000, where he developed new business strategies for TEL, selected MEMS and TSV technology and acquired diversified conglomerate Sumitomo’s steel manufacturing division Sumitomo Metal’s MEMS department.
Enjoji, who holds a master’s degree in economics from Keio University, also oversaw product marketing and oversea sales for chemical vapour deposition and physical vapour deposition systems as a senior manager from 1994, as well as sales and marketing for US-based cancer treatment technology provider Varian’s products in Japan. In total, he has worked within the Japanese corporation for more than 25 years.
