Nicolas Sauvage, president TDK Ventures, is one of the 100 leading corporate venturing professionals in our 2024 Powerlist.
Nicolas Sauvage is president of TDK Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Japanese technology firm TDK Corporation. Established in 2019, and with assets under management totalling $350m, TDK Ventures invests in early-stage startups driving digital and energy innovations.
Under Sauvage’s leadership, TDK Ventures has made investments in 37 startups, including notable unicorns Groq, Ascend Elements and Silicon Box. Noteworthy exits include an IPO with fuel cell system developer GenCell, as well as three successful mergers and acquisitions involving SLD Laser, Wheels and Origin, companies specialising in laser light source technology, micromobility and 3D printing technology, respectively.
Recognised for his contributions to the venturing community, Sauvage has earned a place on the Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist for five consecutive years.
An advocate for sharing insights and best practices, Sauvage has authored articles for Harvard Business Review, London Business School and Insead. He hosts the Corporate Venturing Insider podcast to help share knowledge among corporate venturing leaders. Additionally, he was selected as one of only two corporate venture capitalists to join the Kauffman Fellows network in 2023, an esteemed group of venture capital investors.
Under Sauvage’s leadership, TDK Ventures has made investments in 37 startups, including
notable unicorns Groq, Ascend Elements and Silicon Box
Sauvage serves on the boards of several companies, including Analog Inference, AutoFlight, Faction, Mach49, Metalenz, Virewirx and TDK Ventures.
Before his tenure at TDK Ventures, he held key roles at InvenSense, where he managed strategic ecosystem relationships with companies such as Google and Qualcomm. Prior to that, he was part of the management team at NXP Software, overseeing global sales and later assuming responsibility for profit and loss management and product strategy within the OEM business line.
The Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist represents the 100
individuals spearheading the future of the corporate venturing industry.
These individuals excel in terms of their venturing approach and structure, number and quality of portfolio companies and in their contributions to the corporate venturing profession.
