A suitable headline for the discussion in a sector workshop developed by Apex-Brasil could well be “future-proofing an industry riding a wave of disruption”.
That, indeed, was the title of a keynote presentation by Rimas Kapeskas, managing director of US-based delivery company UPS’s Strategic Enterprise Fund, during the Corporate Venture in Brasil 2016 conference.
Kapeskas said, to a corporation, venturing could look like outsourced research and development, and early-stage venture deals just experiments and opportunities from which to learn what works and what fails. Investing in startups UPS could learn from, he said, helped the corporation even if the technology was still to be used.
Kapeskas gave the example of radio-frequency identification (RFID), a sector in which his fund had backed four startups whose technology had yet to be used by UPS because the latency or time delay in tracking had failed to keep up with the pace that UPS moved items.
In another area of interest, Kapeskas said drones were an interesting space but with heavy regulations in many countries it had turned to Rwanda to trial the systems by offering to deliver life-saving education to rural areas.
The following day, Jay Onda, venture partner and director of strategic investments at Japan-based automotive group Yamaha’s corporate venturing unit, picked up the drones theme.
Onda said Yamaha, which makes a small helicopter for spraying crops and delivering larger payloads, had initially regarded drones as little more than toys but quickly realised they could be a potential disruptive threat.
Through ventures, the company discovered drones could be complementary, by more cheaply and efficiently swarming around an area to pick weeds or look at micro conditions ahead of spraying. As a result, Yamaha has developed a technology to help these drones be coordinated and fly safely.
Other vehicle makers and their original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have also been following suit to set up corporate venturing programs, according to Global Corporate Venturing data prepared in a report published at the event.
Ebru Semizer, head of market intelligence and sales projects for trucks and buses at Germany-based Mercedes-Benz’s Brazilian subsidiary, announced it would be the first sponsor for an automotive-focused accelerator in the country run by Rogerio Tamassia, co-founder of Liga Ventures.
In a preceding panel, Semizer, along with Bruno Bragazza, the innovation, IP and new business manager at car parts maker Bosch’s Latin American subsidiary, and Alexandre Brunaldi, sales director for global OEM accounts at chip maker Qualcomm, discussed how automotive companies could look for solutions in the market besides relying on R&D to innovate.
Their main recommendation was for corporations to engage more with startups. This was eagerly received by the audience and subsequent pitch session by entrepreneurs from Automobi, Nexer, Virtual.PYXIS and TruckPad.
TruckPad, which helps independent hauliers find payloads, had already raised $4m last year in a round including corporate venturer Movile, and was looking to raise a further $4m to continue its development over the next 18 months.
TruckPad, along with peers showcased in earlier pitches, such as Sunew, BR Photonics and Nano Vetores, had been among the most eagerly followed by the corporate venturers at the event.