Japan-based electronics manufacturer TDK Corporation launched a $50m corporate venture capital vehicle called TDK Ventures on Monday.
TDK Ventures will make investments in early-stage companies in technological fields including magnetics, microelectromechanical systems, piezoelectrics, dielectrics, semiconductors, organic materials and neuroelectrical systems.
In a wider sense, those technologies would feed into applications in areas such as digitised healthcare, advanced mobility, robotics, internet-of-things and mixed reality.
The unit is intended to help its parent company unlock new markets and technologies while providing portfolio companies with mentoring and a potential customer base, in addition to industry and operational know-how.
TDK has promoted Nicolas Sauvage, its US-based senior director of ecosystem since 2016, to lead the unit, and it plans to hire a number of corporate venturing professionals to engage with the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The corporate itself has intermittently participated in strategic investments of late, acquiring sensor technology developer Chirp in February 2018, having taken a stake in audio system developer Trigence Semiconductor two years earlier.
Shigenao Ishiguro, president and chief executive of TDK Corporation, said: “The investments made by TDK Ventures will bring new, powerful, transformative business opportunities to TDK.
“With TDK Ventures, TDK will continue to expand the marketplace and deliver sustainable growth into our future.”
