The top 50: Gen Tsuchikawa, CEO and CIO, Sony Ventures Corporation.
Gen Tsuchikawa is chief executive and chief investment officer of Sony Ventures Corporation, the venture investing arm of Japan-headquartered electronics and entertainment giant Sony Group Corporation.
Tsuchikawa is also corporate vice-president of Sony Group Corporation and works closely with the parent on various strategic topics. With total funds under management exceeding $500m, Sony Ventures has recently announced the first closing of a new fund dubbed Sony Innovation Fund III.
In his recent talk at Global Corporate Venturing, Tsuchikawa reflected on Sony Ventures’ investment focus and his investment outlook for 2022: “Over the coming year, we will actively invest in emerging global startups who are bringing innovations to healthtech, entertainment, deeptech, fintech, insurtech, agtech, retailtech as well as the internet-of-things and software-as-a-service sectors. In keeping with Sony’s goal to achieve a zero environmental footprint by the year 2050, ESG will also be a major focus of investment in 2022.
“We are also looking at other sectors that can benefit from innovations in sensor technologies such as new mobility and future-of-work technologies. While we are excited about the coming opportunities we will see in 2022, there will undoubtedly be challenges in most sectors that will require us to take a thoughtful and targeted approach to invest in the world’s startups.”
The start of 2022 has seen a spate of investments from Sony Ventures including data-capture group Scandit, robotics developer Superpedestrian and video gaming platform Mightier.
Since its launch of Sony Innovation Fund (SIF) six years ago, Sony Ventures has made more than 120 investments globally.
Tsuchikawa joined Sony in 2004 as senior VP of corporate development and treasury for its US electronics operations, having had more than 30 years of investment and M&A experience across industries including banking, wealth management and enterprise.
