TDK Ventures, the $50 million VC fund set up by TDK Corp in July, has made its first investment.

The money goes to autonomous delivery service startup, Starship Technologies.

Starship will, says TDK, leverage TDK Corp’s expertise in sensors, robotics and IoT, and IoT to expand operations, meet  demand and advance its technology. 

TDK’s investment is part of  Starship’s $40 million Series A funding round.

TDK Ventures was announced in July with a brief to invest in traditionally underfunded technology areas such as materials science and hard tech.

Starship is founded by Skype co-founders, Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, and led by former AirBnB executive, Lex Bayer.

The company has developed autonomous delivery robots that use a combination of sophisticated sensors, artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver goods locally in minutes.

Since the company’s founding, these robots have traveled over 350,000 miles to complete more than 100,000 autonomous deliveries.

TDK Ventures aims to help the company expand its reach, with a strong focus on accomplishing its 100 university campus expansion plan, making it easier for students to save time by getting food delivered quicker and at low cost.

“With our first portfolio investment as a Corporate VC, we looked for a company that was thinking and acting years ahead of the competition,” says TDK Ventures md  Nicolas Sauvage.