Malaysia-based oil supplier Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) has set up another corporate venture capital unit with $350m, having created a Europe and US-based corporate venture capital subsidiary earlier this year.
State-owned Petronas has announced that Petronas Corporate Venture Capital (Petronas CVC) will make direct investments in technology startups developing industry 4.0, advanced materials, specialty chemicals and futuristic energy technology as well as access into new markets.
The company said in a statement: “Petronas CVC’s global coverage will focus not only in North America and Europe, managed by its recently launched VC arm PTV International Ventures America (Piva), but also in the Asia Pacific and Malaysian startups, to spur local entrepreneurship and the venture capital ecosystem.
“The fund will act as a minority stakeholder in early to growth-stage companies, leveraging Petronas’ strong global network across the energy value chain for strategic fit with its co-investors and partners, and assist startups in scaling up.”
Piva hired Bennett Cohen, who had previously been a principal at Shell Ventures, the strategic investment subsidiary of oil and gas provider Shell, in July this year. Ricardo Angel oversees Piva as CEO and managing partner, having set up the $250m fund in January this year on the corporate’s behalf.
The Piva team also includes Adzmel Adznan, formerly head of Piva’s predecessor, Petronas Technology Venture Capital, who joined in May as partner and operating manager. Petrona has also selected 20 startups to join the Petronas FutureTech Accelerator initiative, which started at the end of September.
