Sony Innovation Fund Launches ESG Initiative Support Program for Portfolio Companies

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Sony Innovation Fund, a #corporate venture capital arm of #sony Group Corporation (hereafter “Sony”), today announced that it has developed an Environmental, #social and #corporate Governance (ESG) evaluation process for its portfolio companies and launched a program to support each company's ESG efforts.

Sony Innovation Fund believes that tackling ESG issues from an early stage is the key to the long-term and sustainable #corporate value enhancement of each portfolio company. Unlike listed companies, there are few benchmarks or ESG scores available for start-up companies to refer to, but the #sony Innovation Fund has developed an ESG scoring methodology to assess the level of ESG maturity of start-ups, and introduced a process for evaluation at the time of investment and post-investment monitoring.

By regularly measuring ESG scores before and after investment and giving feedback to portfolio companies, #sony Innovation Fund will contribute to improving the understanding of ESG by each portfolio company and support their further implementation of ESG initiatives. #sony Innovation Fund will also promote activities toward the realization of a sustainable and better society through supporting technologies that help address #social issues and the ventures that own those technologies.

Statement from #toshimotomitomo, Executive Vice President, #sony Group Corporation

“Through #corporate management with a long-term perspective, the #sony Group is accelerating various initiatives for a sustainable society and environment. We also believe that ESG perspectives are indispensable for the long-term growth of start-up companies in conducting #corporate venture capital activities. By introducing this ESG evaluation process for portfolio companies, we hope to support innovations that lead to solving global #social issues and contribute to the progress and development of society.”