Tony Sun, director of corporate venture capital at GC International, which runs PTT Global Chemical’s corporate venture unit GC Ventures, never thought he would enjoy doing corporate venturing capital this much.
“I always had the passion to commercialise innovation, but did not know what role was the right fit. Now, eight years in CVC, I am convinced that this is it,” he says.
Sun began his career at Lux Research advising open innovation and corporate venture before joining GC International as a senior analyst in 2017. He became the corporate venture capital manager in 2020 and a year later he took on the role of director.
Founded in 2018, GC Ventures invests in advanced materials, circular economy and decarbonisation startups. The firm has 11 companies and seven funds in its portfolio, including US-based platform material developer Actnano.
I always had the passion to commercialise innovation, but did not know what role was the right fit. Now, eight years in CVC, I am convinced that this is it
Sun says that, in terms of the pace of commercialising innovation, the chemicals industry has been lagging. Having a corporate venturing arm can be helpful since it provides a flexible model that can capture the value of external innovations.
“The chemical sector has not performed very well in the past two years but most of our portfolio has made major progress in bringing their technology to the market. Our senior executive’s vision of having a CVC is to prepare GC for the future. We still have a long way to go, but overall, have achieved a lot,” he says.
GC Ventures is comprised of two teams that collaborate closely with each other: one in the US and one in Thailand. Each team has three team members.
Sun says CVC is like juggling. “To be a good corporate venture capitalist, one needs to balance between competing priorities, such as near-term goals versus long-term visions. But dealing with this level of complexity daily is also where the fun lies.”
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