Panasonic Decides on an Investment for the First Time after the Establishment of the Panasonic Kurashi Visionary Fund

Investment in a startup offering IoT connected platforms and development support services

Osaka, Japan - Panasonic Corporation (President & CEO: Masahiro Shinada; Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "Panasonic") today announced its decision to invest (convertible note investment*) in MODE, Inc. (CEO & Co-Founder: Gaku Ueda; Head office: San Mateo, CA, USA; hereinafter "MODE"), an IoT connected platform and development support service provider, through a corporate venture capital fund ( common name: Panasonic Kurashi Visionary 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. 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 our devices or those of other companies, in order to develop and offer more competitive IoT solutions.

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. 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
"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
"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."

About MODE

MODE provides scalable IoT solutions that accelerate worksite digital transformation. By packaging IoT technologies that have been difficult to handle, MODE offers cloud solutions that can be easily used by any company. The goal is to spread the use of worksite data in various industries, to revolutionize business, and to realize a society that is one step ahead of the rest. For more information, visit www.tinkermode.com or email info@tinkermode.com.

About Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Corporation offers products and services for a variety of living environments, ranging from homes to stores to offices and cities. There are five businesses at the core of Panasonic Corporation: Living Appliances and Solutions Company, Heating & Ventilation A/C Company, Cold Chain Solutions Company, Electric Works Company and China and Northeast Asia Company. The operating company reported consolidated net sales of 3,647.6 billion yen for the year ended March 31, 2022. Panasonic Corporation is committed to fulfilling the mission of Life Tech & Ideas: For the wellbeing of people, society and the planet, and embraces the vision of becoming the best partner of your life with human-centric technology and innovation. Learn more about Panasonic: https://www.panasonic.com/global/about/

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