Panasonic to Deepen India CVC Investments as Energy Takes Centre Stage: Kunio Gohara Speaking to Entrepreneur India, the company heads discussed the investment approach as it looks ahead to 2026.
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As Panasonic deepens its corporate venture capital (CVC) activity in India, its investment thesis is increasingly aligning with energy transition, sustainability, and consumer lifestyles of the future, according to Kunio Gohara, Chief Transformation Officer (CTRO) and Head of CVC at Panasonic, and Manish Misra, Chief Innovation Officer at Panasonic India.
Speaking to Entrepreneur India, the company heads discussed the investment approach as it looks ahead to 2026.
Panasonic's CVC participated in a USD 65 million Series B funding in Batterysmart, signalling this shift. According to Gohara, the company's evolution beyond traditional electronics is a deliberate response to changing global market dynamics.
"So Panasonic till now has been a major partner in only electronics. But from here on, since the trends of the world, including India, have been changing, this time we thought of collaborating with such startups for further development. In India, the business of using batteries has been expanding. In the future, we would like to expand this business not only in mobility but also in household appliances," said Gohara.
Gohara also added that while Panasonic has historically focused on products such as lighting and other electronics, energy is not fast becoming a major pillar.
He added that while Panasonic has historically focused on products such as Anchor switches and lighting, energy is now becoming a central pillar. "From here on, Panasonic wants to continue efficiently in the energy sector, not only for mobility, but Panasonic is looking to move this sector into domestic use cases."
Panasonic formally institutionalised its CVC efforts in 2022, with the launch of the 'Kurashi Visionary Fund' established in partnership with the SBI Group in India. The fund has a USD 50 million corpus with a 10-year life cycle, divided between an investment period followed by an exit phase. Initially, the fund focused more on mature markets such as the USA and Japan, with key funding participation in MODE, Inc. (US), an IoT platform company focused on connecting and analysing real-world data, and Neautech Inc. (Japan), which operates a digital skin-care and diagnostics platform combining AI and consumer data.
Balancing strategic intent with returns remains critical for a legacy conglomerate operating its CVC arm. Gohara emphasized that Panasonic's long-term vision is rooted in lifestyle enrichment across homes, offices, and hospitality. "So the main focus of Panasonic company itself is to enrich other people's lives… in a broader sense, how to enrich the lifestyle of the people."
From an execution standpoint, Misra explained that Panasonic's Ignition accelerator program acts as a funnel for strategic alignment before capital deployment.
"From a thesis point of view, the focus area has been future consumer lifestyle, the building-related solutions, and sustainability. So our first cohort, Ignition 1.0, we focused on B2B solutions for energy management. For the second cohort, we focused on lifestyle, and for this cohort, we are actually focusing on residential solutions."
Misra also said that Panasonic aims to play a connective role between Indian startups and global capital, citing partnerships such as BeyondNext Ventures from Japan and tangible outcomes for some startups. "Some of them have seen 4-5x revenue growth in their engagement after they passed out from the Ignition cohort."
YogiFi, a smart yoga mat manufacturer, is a key example. The company was recognized in the "Accelerate" category of the second cohort of the Panasonic Ignition program and is actively expanding its presence in Japan.
On capital allocation, Misra shared rare visibility into Panasonic's CVC pool. "We started from the Kurashi Visionary Fund in collaboration with SBI. Out of the overall fund size, roughly about 20–25 per cent was already invested, and the remaining is being set aside for the "Indian" kind of investment."
