Panasonic Corporation announces its decision to invest in MODE, Inc., an IoT-connected platform and development support service provider, through a corporate venture capital fund, which Panasonic runs jointly with SBI Investment Co., Ltd. This is the first investment after the establishment of the Kurashi Visionary Fund.
MODE offers sensor platforms and related software services that enhance the operations of any enterprise. Its advantage lies in its flexible approach to business processes that vary depending on the company, in addition to essential features such as real-time, large scale, high reliability, and advanced security.
Competitive IoT solutions
Through its partnership with MODE, Panasonic hopes to strengthen its technologies and expertise in recurring businesses, where services (e.g., monitoring, data analysis, visualization, maintenance, or connection to other systems) are provided based on the data collected from the devices or those of other companies, in order to develop and offer more competitive IoT solutions.
Solutions for using data extracted from devices are essential for expanding service businesses
The demand for IoT solutions is high in all business settings, with approximately 27 billion IoT devices expected to be connected by 2025. Solutions for using data extracted from devices are essential for expanding service businesses (recurring businesses) that involve hardware.
Panasonic, with its mission of achieving the well-being of people, society, and the planet, endeavors to be the best partner of people's lives with human-centric technology and innovation.
Modern service businesses
The company will continue to encourage open innovation based on strong partnerships, through investments in promising startups in Japan and overseas that are competitive in business areas closely related to living, such as energy, food infrastructure, spatial infrastructure, and lifestyle.
Kunio Gohara, General Manager / CTRO (Chief Transformation Officer), Panasonic said, "As digital transformation accelerates and the IoT connects us, the boundaries between industries are becoming very blurred. We believe that this investment will strengthen our partnership with MODE and enable us to focus on creating new customer value that transcends industry boundaries in areas such as infrastructure, residential facilities, and home appliances through IoT devices."
Gaku Ueda, CEO/Co-Founder of MODE said, "We believe that IoT/digital transformation technology will be indispensable for all companies to evolve their existing businesses into modern service businesses. We would like to help accelerate the evolution of Panasonic, which has significant businesses in a wide range of fields, with technology and speed from Silicon Valley."
