Automotive manufacturing partnership Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi took the wraps off a corporate venturing fund yesterday and intends to invest up to $1bn in startups through the unit.
Alliance Ventures intends to provide up $200m in funding for startups and open innovation projects in its first year of operation, with the $1bn figure representative of what it could commit over a five-year period.
The alliance, initially formed when France-based Renault and Japan-headquartered Nissan exchanged equity stakes in 1999, was extended in 2016 when Nissan acquired a 34% share of Japan-based Mitsubishi.
The unit will target mobility technologies such as automotive electrification, vehicle connectivity, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems. It intends to invest at all stages of company development as well as incubating new businesses.
François Dossa, chief executive of Nissan Brazil since 2012, has left his old position to lead Alliance Ventures and co-managed its creation with its deputy head, Matthieu de Chanville, formerly a senior executive at consulting firm Boston Consulting Group.
The unit will be co-located in Paris, France, Yokohama, Japan and Beijing, China. Renault and Nissan will each provide 40% of its capitalisation while Mitsubishi will supply the other 20%, as Reuters reported last week.
Alliance Ventures’ first deal is an investment in Ionic Materials, the US-based developer of a solid state battery that will be made from a non-flammable solid polymer electrolyte material.
The batteries could be more efficient and cost-effective than current models, and would hypothetically be used for electric vehicles, electronics and grid energy storage. The alliance will also cooperate with Ionic on research and development activities.
Ionic has not revealed details about its earlier funding, or the size of Alliance Ventures’ investment, but has disclosed its existing investors include “prominent” venture capital firms.
Carlos Ghosn, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi’s chairman and CEO, said: “Our open innovation approach will allow us to invest and collaborate with start-up companies and technology entrepreneurs, who will benefit from the global scale of the Alliance.
“This new fund reflects the collaborative spirit and entrepreneurial mind-set at the heart of the Alliance.”