Antonio Avitabile joined Sony in 2000 with a background in electrical engineering and a doctorate in radio frequency, later adding an MBA, and helped build Sony's image sensor business with early customers like Nokia and Ericsson before spending about 15 years leading Sony's corporate development and venture activities across Europe and the Middle East, working on more than 50 deals in the region. He focuses on components and deeptech areas like sensors and quantum technology, speaks English, Italian, and Spanish, and often advises founders that diversity on their board is a key part of building something new.
About their Fund
Sony Innovation Fund is split into several separate funds instead of one, including an early-stage fund run directly by Sony, a growth-stage fund with Daiwa, a climate-focused fund, an Africa entertainment fund, and later-stage funds through Sony Ventures, with investment decisions made by a committee that includes corporate executives and business division heads; it doesn't require startups to work with Sony, though about 40% end up collaborating with the company in some way across areas like gaming, semiconductors, electronics, music, film, and finance. The fund has backed unusual, frontier-type companies like an odor digitization startup, a sampling-rights marketplace, an AR display company, and a heart-failure regenerative medicine company, and its leaders describe the work as end-to-end business incubation covering sourcing, diligence, execution, value enhancement, monitoring, and exit rather than just providing capital.
















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