EU CVC | 007 | TDK Ventures’ Nicolas Sauvage on building a founder-friendly CVC and investing in DeepTech for long-term impact

In today’s episode of our CVC series, Andreas and our CVC in-house expert, Jeppe Høier, sit down with Nicolas Sauvage, President of TDK Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of TDK Corporation, a global leader in electronics and materials technology. With $350 million in AUM across three funds, TDK Ventures focuses on hard tech, deep tech, and energy transformation. It invests between $250K and $10 million per deal while balancing strategic alignment with venture-scale returns.Since founding TDK Ventures in 2019, Nicolas has built one of the market's most disciplined and entrepreneur-friendly CVCs, backing startups in sustainability, mobility, and advanced materials. Under his leadership, the firm has pioneered a unique "Diverse Advocate" investment process, ensuring rigorous due diligence and a first-principles approach to deep tech investing. In this conversation, Nicolas shares how TDK Ventures bridges the gap between startups and a global corporate parent, the power of patience in CVC, and why he believes nuclear fusion will be the defining energy source of the future.