FAQ

What type of companies does PVG provide venture capital?
Our investments are made in private, venture backed startup companies that have proprietary technology advantages and offer strategic co-development alliance potential with Panasonic. All investments must present a clear strategic advantage to Panasonic research and development. Most of our investments are in the US, but occasionally we have invested outside the US.

At what stage does PVG work with a company?
We seek investment and partnering candidate companies once they have been organized as an independent C-Corp, have a business plan, and have developed their innovation to the point that it can be demonstrated at least in a lab environment. Most our investments are post-A rounds.

What is your technology focus?
When we invest venture capital, generally, we focus on technologies that will enable market leadership potential in three areas: (1) traditional Panasonic product areas, such as next generation digital home products, networked consumer devices, ease of use interfaces, and semiconductor; (2) future minded solutions that enable energy conservation and environmental management for our customers; and (3) innovative personal health care solutions, especially in medical devices and where health care converges with consumer electronics.

Do you facilitate alliances that are purely business oriented (versus technology)?
We focus on technology-based alliances. If your company has a complete solution and is simply seeking a co-marketing, co-branding or other similar business relationship, PVG is not the right group for you. But if you have a technology that would benefit from a co-development relationship that exploits the core competencies of Panasonic, then we would like to talk with you.

What are the investment practices (lead investor, follow on investor, amount of capital typically invested, etc.)?
PVG is a co-investor and typically does not lead investments due to potential conflicts of interest as a strategic partner. We work closely with other venture firms to access new deals and add demonstrable value to the venture startup. We only make follow-on investments if there is a strategic benefit for the additional capital. The amount that we typically invest is $1 million to $3 million.

What is the process to close an investment from PVG?
PVG must complete a process to validate the potential strategic advantage to Panasonic and to perform a technology and business evaluation. Also, since PVG does not lead investments, we generally require a term sheet from a qualified institutional VC who will lead the deal.

How does PVG handle confidential informationand IP of our prospective companies and our portfolio companies? PVG operates as an independent unit as it relates to information control and follows normal practices of the venture industry for evaluating information provided by our candidate companies. Our first meeting will not be under NDA and companies should only present information that is not confidential. Business plans should not have Confidential marked on the pages, but instead you can mark them with the following statement: ‘For Panasonic Internal Use Only’. The information that you share with us is not shared with business units until you have approved the dissemination. When it is appropriate for an R&D or business unit of Panasonic to evaluate your company more deeply, PVG will facilitate the execution of NDAs with the relevant units in Panasonic. After PVG understands how your technology relates to Panasonic’s proprietary technology and IP and if we decide to move forward with a plan to invest, then we will sign an NDA to begin a more detailed evaluation.

How does a company submit its business plan?
Send it to us at: info@us.panasonic.com