The FINANCIAL — Panasonic Corporation on March 1 announced that it is forming BeeEdge, a joint venture with Scrum Ventures, a San Francisco based early-stage venture capital firm.
Aimed at enabling a new generation of products, BeeEdge will identify technologies within Panasonic that are not fully utilized and create independent startups to commercially develop them. BeeEdge will act as an accelerator with Panasonic and Scrum bringing their experience collaborating with and supporting entrepreneurs, according to Panasonic.
“We are looking forward to working with Scrum Ventures because of their expertise in supporting startups. From analyzing opportunities and bringing products to market, to sharing best practices in operations, Scrum Ventures will be a valuable partner in maximizing how we develop our technologies with new innovative companies,” said Tetsuro Homma, Senior Managing Executive Officer of Panasonic Corp.
“We know how to identify and support startups that are working on ground-breaking new technologies. We are very hands-on with founders and make sure they have what they need to succeed. Sharing our expertise with Panasonic is a great opportunity to bring Panasonic’s underutilized innovations to market,” said Tak Miyata, Founding Partner of Scrum Ventures.
Panasonic, known for creating consumer electrics that enhance customer lifestyles, has been increasing its investment to create new consumer electronic experiences and businesses for the next generation. With its track record identifying new trends and technologies, and strong understanding of the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem, Scrum Ventures is well-positioned to bring expertise to BeeEdge to advise the startups. LeTote, Kidadaptive, LiveLike, and Realtime Robotics are among Scrum Ventures’ portfolio.
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