Cannestra leaves CVC arm of Japanese car parts maker Denso

Tony Cannestra has left the corporate venturing arm of Denso, the Japanese automotive components manufacturer, after 11 years at the helm.

Denso said, however, that the investment unit, based in the Bay Area in California, will continue operating as before, not only supporting its current portfolio companies but seeking new investment opportunities. There is no information yet on who will head the unit following Cannestra’s departure.

A company spokesman told GCV: “Denso remains committed to its corporate venture initiatives, now and into the future. This means our team continues to support startups within our current corporate venture portfolio, and we will continue to seek out new collaboration opportunities with companies who share our passion for greener, safer mobility.” 

Denso currently has seven startups in its investment portfolio, and the ventures team recently had two successful exits for portfolio companies. These were stock market listings for edge AI company Blaize, which listed on the Nasdaq exchange in January through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and Canatu, a Finnish maker of advanced carbon nanotubes, which listed on Nasdaq Finland last year, also via a SPAC.

The team, which tended to back companies at the early stage, from seed to series B, invests from the corporate balance sheet and is unusual among CVC units to have a mandate focused only on bringing strategic benefits to the parent corporation, with very few financial targets. The CVC unit has been less active in recent years, however, with GCV data showing very new investments, at least in the public domain.

The broader Denso Corporation has recently been through a period of profit decline, due in part to lower vehicle production volumes in Asia and suspensions of operations by Japanese customers. The components company, which supplies carmakers such as Toyota, slashed its full-year profits forecast by 21% in October and has made a series of cost management efforts at the company, as well as starting a share buy-back programme.

This article was amended on March 25, 2025. We originally stated that the whole of the Denso corporate venture unit was closing down, but have now corrected this to say that the unit will remain functioning despite Cannestra’s departure.