Elena Watts-Pass, photo courtesy of LinkedIn
Elena Watts-Pass has joined TDK Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of the Japanese electronics multinational TDK, as a portfolio programme associate.
TDK Ventures marks her first role in corporate venture capital. Focusing on the energy sector, it was launched in 2019 and established its most recent fund in 2023 at a size of $150m.
The CVC unit holds 33 active portfolio companies including Ascend Elements, a US battery recycler, and Autoflight, a Chinese company making drones. In July, it took part in the $55m series A funding round for Peak Energy, which makes sodium-ion batteries.
Watts-Pass previously worked as a senior commercialisation associate for the University of Cambridge’s technology transfer office, Cambridge Enterprise, which she joined in January 2023.
In the financial year from August 2022 to July 2023, Cambridge Enterprise invested £9.2m ($11.8m) across 21 spinouts, and holds a portfolio currently valued at £97m ($124m). Carbon Re, which makes an AI platform for energy-intensive industries to limit their carbon emissions, and Colorifix, which replaces traditional dyeing methods with a biological process, are among its active portfolio companies.
